ugs: transshipment point for South American drugs
destined for the US and Europe

Exports: $293.6 million (f.o.b., 1994 est.)
commodities: alumina, aluminum, shrimp and fish, rice, bananas
partners: Norway 33%, Netherlands 26%, US 13%, Japan 6%, Brazil 6%,
UK 3% (1992)

Imports: $194.3 million (f.o.b., 1994 est.)
commodities: capital equipment, petroleum, foodstuffs, cotton,
consumer goods
partners: US 42%, Netherlands 22%, Trinidad and Tobago 10%, Brazil
5% (1992)

External debt: $180 million (March 1993 est.)

Economic aid:
recipient: ODA, $NA

Currency: 1 Surinamese guilder, gulden, or florin (Sf.) = 100 cents

Exchange rates: Surinamese guilders, gulden, or florins (Sf.) per
US$1 - central bank midpoint rate: 402.32 (December 1995), 442.23
(1995), 134.12 (1994); parallel rate: 412 (December 1995), 510
(December 1994), 109 (January 1994)
note: beginning July 1994, the central bank midpoint exchange rate
was unified and became market determined

Fiscal year: calendar year

Transportation
--------------

Railways:
total: 166 km (single track)
standard gauge: 80 km 1.435-m gauge
narrow gauge: 86 km 1.000-m gauge

Highways:
total: 4,470 km
paved: 1,162 km
unpaved: 3,308 km (1990)

Waterways: 1,200 km; most important means of transport; oceangoing
vessels with drafts ranging up to 7 m can navigate many of the
principal waterways

Ports: Albina, Moengo, New Nickerie, Paramaribo, Paranam,
Wageningen

Merchant marine:
total: 2 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 2,421 GRT/2,990 DWT
ships by type: cargo 1, container 1 (1995 est.)

Airports:
total: 38
with paved runways over 3 047 m: 1
with paved runways under 914 m: 31
with unpaved runways 914 to 1 523 m: 6 (1995 est.)

Communications
--------------

Telephones: 43,522 (1992 est.)

Telephone system: international facilities good
domestic: microwave radio relay network
international: satellite earth stations - 2 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean)

Radio broadcast stations: AM 5, FM 14, shortwave 1

Radios: 290,256 (1993 est.)

Television broadcast stations: 6 (1987 est.)

Televisions: 59,598 (1993 est.)

Defense
-------

Branches: National Army (includes small Navy and Air Force
elements), Civil Police

Manpower availability:
males age 15-49: 119,010
males fit for military service: 70,400 (1996 est.)

Defense expenditures: $NA, NA% of GDP

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