PARAMARIBO — Although China’s cancellation of 320 million renminbi (RMB; official Chinese currency) of Surinamese debt is described as positive, it clarifies Bureau of Public Debt (Suriname Debt Management Office/SDMO) on Tuesday (today) in a statement that the entire debt of approximately 550 million US dollars has not been canceled. “That is incorrect to suggest. It only concerns specific interest-free loans and not the total Chinese debt of Suriname,” it is made clear.
The ‘misconception’ arose because page 15 of the Debt Plan 2026 of the Public Debt Bureau states that interest-free loans totaling 320 million RMB (47,680,000 US dollars) had already been removed from the foreign debt portfolio of the Surinamese government as of January 1, 2022. These loans were therefore no longer part of the regular debt restructuring process with China.
The National Debt Bureau clarifies that this information is included in Chapter 4 (‘Evaluation of the 2025 Debt Plan’) of the Debt plan 2026 is included due to the evaluation of developments and debt measures for 2025. “The mention should therefore not be interpreted as a new debt cancellation that only took place in 2026,” is underlined by the Ministry of Finance and Planning.
