Country Profile Surinam

 

  • Capital: Paramaribo
  • Population: 481,267 (July 2009 est.)
  • Currency: Surinam dollar (SRD)                         

  • Language:

    • Dutch (official)
    • English (widely spoken)
    • Sranang Tongo (Surinamese, sometimes called Taki-Taki, is native language of Creoles and much of the younger population and is lingua franca among others)
    • Caribbean Hindustani (a dialect of Hindi)
    • Javanese
  • Time zone: UTC-3
  • Government:  Constitutional democracy
  • Chief of State: President Runaldo Ronald VENETIAAN

  • GDP real growth rate :

    • 6% (2008 est.)
    • 5.5% (2007 est.) 
    • 4.8% (2006 est.)
  • Exports: $1.391 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.)

  •  Main Export Partners(2007):

    • Canada 26.8%
    • Norway 20.2%
    • Belgium 9.2%
    • US 8.9%
    • UAE 7.9%
    • France 7.2%
  •  Imports:  $1.297 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.)

  •  Main Import partners(2007):

  • Country Dialing Code: +597
  • National Airline: Surinam Airways
  • Voltage: 127V
  • Emergency number: 115

Detailed country profile


ECONOMY

GDP real growth rate:

  • 6% (2008 est.)
  • 5.5% (2007 est.)
  • 4.8% (2006 est.)

GDP-Composition by Sector(2005):

  • Agriculture: 10.8%
  • Industry: 24.4%
  • Services: 64.8%

Labor force by occupation:

  • Agriculture: 8%
  • Industry: 14%
  • Services: 78% (2004)

Agriculture products:

  • Paddy rice
  • Bananas
  • Palm kernels
  • Coconuts
  • Plantains
  • Peanuts
  • Beef
  • Chickens
  • Shrimp
  • Forest products

Industries:

  • Bauxite and gold mining
  • Alumina production
  • Oil
  • Lumbering
  • Food processing
  • Fishing

Exports: $1.391 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.)

Export Commodities

  • Alumina
  • Gold
  • Crude oil
  • Lumber
  • Shrimp and fish
  • Rice
  • Bananas

Main Export Partners(2007):

  • Canada 26.8%
  • Norway 20.2%
  • Belgium 9.2%
  • US 8.9%
  • UAE 7.9%
  • France 7.2%

Imports: $1.297 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.)

Import commodities:

  • Capital equipment
  • Petroleum
  • Foodstuffs
  • Cotton
  • Consumer goods

Import partners(2007):

Ports and Terminal:

  • Paramaribo
  • Wageningen

Unemployment rate: 9.5% (2004)

GOVERNMENT

Government Type: Constitutional democracy

Executive Branch:

chief of state: President Runaldo Ronald VENETIAAN (since 12 August 2000)
Vice President Ramdien SARDJOE (since 3 August 2005)
Note - the president is both the chief of state and head of government
Cabinet: Cabinet of Ministers appointed by the president
Elections: president and vice president elected by the National Assembly or, if no presidential or vice presidential candidate receives a two-thirds constitutional majority in the National Assembly after two votes, by a simple majority in the larger United People's Assembly (893 representatives from the national, local, and regional councils), for five-year terms (no term limits); election last held on 25 May 2005 (next to be held in 2010)

Legal system: Based on Dutch legal system incorporating French penal theory; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction with reservations

GEOGRAPHY

Land Boundaries: total: 1,703 km

Border countries:

Climate: Tropical; moderated by trade winds

Terrain: Mostly rolling hills; narrow coastal plain with swamps

Elevation Extremes:

  • Lowest point: unnamed location in the coastal plain -2 m
  • Highest point: Juliana Top 1,230 m

Natural resources:

  • Timber
  • Hydropower
  • Fish
  • Kaolin
  • Shrimp
  • Bauxite
  • Gold
  • Small amounts of nickel
  • Copper
  • Platinum
  • Iron ore

Environment and international agreement:

Party to:

  • Biodiversity
  • Climate Change
  • Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol
  • Desertification
  • Endangered Species
  • Law of the Sea
  • Marine Dumping
  • Ozone Layer Protection
  • Ship Pollution
  • Tropical Timber 94
  • Wetlands
  • Whaling

Environment and current issues:

  • Deforestation as timber is cut for export
  • Pollution of inland waterways by small-scale mining activities

PEOPLE

Ethnic groups:

  • Hindustani (also known locally as "East Indians"; their ancestors emigrated from northern India in the latter part of the 19th century)37%
  • Creole (mixed white and black) 31%
  • Javanese 15%
  • "Maroons" (their African ancestors were brought to the country in the 17th and 18th centuries as slaves and escaped to the interior) 10%
  • Amerindian 2%
  • Chinese 2%
  • White 1%
  • Other 2%

Languages:

  • Dutch (official)
  • English (widely spoken)
  • Sranang Tongo (Surinamese, sometimes called Taki-Taki, is native language of Creoles and much of the younger population and is lingua franca among others)
  • Caribbean Hindustani (a dialect of Hindi)
  • Javanese

Religion:

  • Hindu 27.4%
  • Protestant 25.2% (predominantly Moravian)
  • Roman Catholic 22.8%
  • Muslim 19.6%
  • Indigenous beliefs 5%

HISTORY

Express History

First explored by the Spaniards in the 16th century and then settled by the English in the mid-17th century, Suriname became a Dutch colony in 1667.

With the abolition of slavery in 1863, workers were brought in from India and Java. Independence from the Netherlands was granted in 1975.

Five years later the civilian government was replaced by a military regime that soon declared a socialist republic. It continued to exert control through a succession of nominally civilian administrations until 1987, when international pressure finally forced a democratic election.

In 1990, the military overthrew the civilian leadership, but a democratically elected government - a four-party New Front coalition - returned to power in 1991 and has ruled since; the coalition expanded to eight parties in 2005.

Source: The world factbook www.cia.gov

 

See also:

Suriname Trade Agreement

Embassies and Consulates in Suriname