Noting that the aggregate deposits in the local banking system has grown significantly over the years, Vice President Dr Bharrat Jagdeo has explained that the government may in the future consider creating more avenues with guaranteed opportunities for citizens to invest.
He was at the time responding to questions during the Energy Conference’s Youth Forum at the Marriott Hotel on Friday.
“I anticipate that in the future, we’d have to start creating these structures for people who are saving more money now – wages and salaries in the public sector, since we’ve got into office, have gone up by US$500 million per year. Now, if you look at the aggregate deposits in the banking system, it has grown significantly, people are not getting a great interest rate here, so we have to create more vehicles with guaranteed opportunities for people to invest in,” the Vice President said, noting that any such venture would not necessarily be driven by a need to raise capital, but rather, to create wealth among citizens.
“It can come through government-issued bonds in the future, but we don’t need to do that to raise money, but maybe we can do so to create more opportunities for people or to give them equity in some projects…but we have to make sure there’s guaranteed return in the equity or else people will lose their money,” he explained, noting that “with equity comes some sort of risk”.
Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh recently revealed that total deposits in commercial banks have soared to nearly $1 trillion by the end of 2024, marking a remarkable increase of 88 per cent from just $513 billion in 2020.
The question about investment opportunities in the oil and gas sector came in light of Surinamese citizens being given the option by their government to invest in the country’s first oil project, but Jagdeo has explained that this is only because the Dutch-speaking country’s economic situation poses constraints in attracting financing from global institutions.
Last month, Suriname state oil company, Staatsolie officially launched the Staatsolie Bond 2025-2033 to raise at least US$250 million and €50 million to fund its involvement in the development of the GranMorgu offshore oil field.
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