Currency in Suriname

The Suriname Dollar is the currency of Suriname, its ISO code is SRD. The sign of the Suriname dollar is the dollar sign $. The currency has only been in use since 2004.

History of the Surinamese currency

The Suriname dollar replaced the Suriname guilder, which had been the official currency since the country gained independence in 1975. Suriname was originally left to the Dutch in exchange for New Amsterdam, previously it belonged to the British Empire. The Suriname guilder was once equal to the Dutch guilder and was pegged to the US dollar after 1940. In the early 1990’s, the Suriname guilder suffered from inflation. Before switching to the Suriname dollar, there were 5,000, 10,000 and 25,000 notes.

Suriname negotiated independence with the Netherlands in 1975 and received financial support for ten years. However, the economy was unstable and the population’s discontent grew. Sixteen non-commissioned officers staged a coup against the elected government in 1980, which was welcomed by the population as they expected a better standard of living. Previously, unemployment was high and large parts of the population had incomes below the subsistence level.

The new military government promised to reinstate democracy after two years. The Netherlands therefore continued its financial support. However, the economy continued to stagnate and resistance from non-government officials and politicians increased, leading to the execution of political opponents by the military government in 1982. The Netherlands then gave up their financial support.

A parliament was convened again in 1985 and elections were held in 1987, with the military still involved in government. In addition, the civil war rocked the country. New elections in 1991 led to the political disempowerment of the military in 1992. The new President Venetiaan tried to get inflation under control, but the bloated bureaucracy made it difficult for him. The military was also involved in the cocaine trade.

During the presidency of Widjenbosch the country was declared bankrupt. He called new elections in 2000 and Venetiaan was re-elected, as in 2005. On January 1st, 2004 he introduced the Suriname dollar, which was exchanged for 1: 1000 for the Suriname guilder. The Suriname guilder had become unusable due to inflation. However, the old coins were kept so that new ones did not have to be minted. They correspond to the same value that they had as guilders.

Exchange into the Surinamese currency

Since the import and export of the local currency is limited to 100 Suriname dollars, euros can only be exchanged for Suriname. An inexpensive way is to withdraw money with the credit card at a domestic ATM (at or in a bank branch not in other places).