USA / SURINAME – The Board of Executive Directors of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) approved a new Country Strategy with Suriname for the period 2021-2025, which aims to support the country’s efforts to restore macroeconomic sustainability, promote private sector competitiveness and improve basic services and social protection.
The five-year strategy is coordinated with other lending partners and is expected to reach $450 million.
The IDB Group will integrate gender and diversity, climate change, environmental sustainability, and institutional capacity and the rule of law as cross-cutting areas while implementing its support to Suriname.
The new Country Strategy will focus on improving the country’s macro-fiscal performance through a combination of expenditure, revenue, and institutional strengthening reforms. The strategy will also support the country’s digital transformation efforts.
The IDB Group’s private sector support will focus on improving financial inclusion, enhancing the quality of education and labor market alignment, supporting local content and innovation policies, improving infrastructure with a focus on transportation networks, regional connectivity, urban revitalization, and resilience enhancement and adaptation.
Recognizing the impact of the pandemic, the IDB Group will support the country’s health care sector, especially its response to non-communicable diseases.
The Country Strategy will also prioritize interventions to reduce inequality in access to basic services and to strengthen social protection programs. Emphasis will be placed on enhancing infrastructure and governance frameworks to improve reliability, supply and quality of public utilities and services, particularly in rural areas.
Antonio Goncalves, the IDB’s Representative in Suriname said: “This Country Strategy reaffirms the IDB Group’s firm commitment to Suriname as the country continues to navigate challenging socioeconomic conditions.”
The new Country Strategy is the result of the close cooperation with country authorities, wide consultation with civil society, private sector, academia, and other development partners in Suriname.
