e since the Dutch ended development aid in
1982. A drop in world bauxite prices that started in the late 1970s and
continued until late 1986, was followed by the outbreak of a guerrilla
insurgency in the interior. The guerrillas targeted the economic
infrastructure, crippling the important bauxite sector and shutting down
other export industries. These problems have created high inflation,
high unemployment, widespread black market activity, and a bad climate
for foreign investment. A small gain in economic growth of 2.0% was
registered in 1989 due to reduced guerrilla activity and improved
international markets for bauxite.

_#_GDP: $1.35 billion, per capita $3,400; real growth rate 2.0%
(1989 est.)

_#_Inflation rate (consumer prices): 50% (1989 est.)

_#_Unemployment rate: 33% (1990)

_#_Budget: revenues $466 million; expenditures $716 million,
including capital expenditures of $123 million (1989 est.)

_#_Exports: $425 million (f.o.b., 1988 est.);

commodities--alumina, bauxite, aluminum, rice, wood and wood
products, shrimp and fish, bananas;

partners--Norway 33%, Netherlands 20%, US 15%, FRG 9%,
Brazil 5%, UK 5%, Japan 3%, other 10%

_#_Imports: $370 million (f.o.b., 1988 est.);

commodities--capital equipment, petroleum, foodstuffs, cotton,
consumer goods;

partners--US 37%, Netherlands 15%, Netherlands Antilles 11%,
Trinidad and Tobago 9%, Brazil 5%, UK 3%, other 20%

_#_External debt: $138 million (1990 est.)

_#_Industrial production: growth rate 16.4% (1988 est.); accounts
for 22% of GDP

_#_Electricity: 458,000 kW capacity; 2,018 million kWh produced,
5,090 kWh per capita (1990)

_#_Industries: bauxite mining, alumina and aluminum production,
lumbering, food processing, fishing

_#_Agriculture: accounts for 11% of both GDP and labor force; paddy
rice planted on 85% of arable land and represents 60% of total farm
output; other products--bananas, palm kernels, coconuts, plantains,
peanuts, beef, chicken; shrimp and forestry products of increasing
importance; self-sufficient in most foods

_#_Economic aid: US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-83), $2.5
million; Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments
(1970-87), $1.45 billion

_#_Currency: Surinamese guilder, gulden, or florin (plural--guilders,
gulden, or florins); 1 Surinamese guilder, gulden, or florin (Sf.) =
100 cents

_#_Exchange rates: Surinamese guilders, gulden, or florins (Sf.