Upheaval in Suriname illegal currency market

(de Ware Tijd)- Speculators (money changers) on the illegal currency market say they are “broken” and “dead”. In less than one week’s time, their rate for the US dollar has dropped to the level of the official rate of the Central Bank of Suriname (CBvS), SRD 3.35. The rate for the Euro as well is at the official level, namely, SRD 4.50. An illegal money changer says, “We are dead. Our business is broken. The cambio’s (legal currency exchange offices) suddenly have dollars and sell at the official rate. There’s nothing left for us”. Remi Bhailal, chairman of the cambio owners’ association, says everything is going smoothly under the CBvS’s stricter control mechanisms. These mechanisms include handing over a percentage of the revenues to the Bank, and keeping good books. The CBvS emphasized in a press release yesterday, however, that it involves a “continuous fight”, and warned against “very malicious attempts to destabilize the financial system and economy.” The Bank’s statement ends with a plea for calm.