The Central Bank of Suriname (CBvS) today publishes its first Financial Stability Report (FSR). The report covers developments in 2014 and aims to inform policy makers, market participants, professionals and the general public on the performance and resilience of Suriname’s financial sector and to increase understanding of the various measures that the CBvS has taken to maintain a stable and secure financial sector.The Minister of Finance, Mr. Gillmore Hoefdraad, received the first copy of the report this morning.

 

 

 

The FSR, which will be published annually starting from this issue, contains five parts. The first part of the report provides an overview of the domestic financial sector. The second part analyzes the international and domestic operating environment and its impact on the financial sector. The third part details the performance of the financial sector, and since banks constitute over 75 percent of this sector, the emphasis is on the banking industry. Even so, the report also covers the performance of insurance companies, pension funds and credit unions. The fourth part of the report takes account of forward-looking risks through stress tests of the banking sector, which examine the capital levels of individual banks and the banking system as a whole in the face of a number of shock scenarios. Finally, the fifth part of the report contains short articles on current topics in the field of financial stability in Suriname.

The report confirms the stability and strength of Suriname’s financial sector. In addition, the stress tests and the improved risk profile of the commercial banks reveal the resilience of the banking system, which is a result of the ongoing enhancement of the regulatory and supervisory framework of the CBvS.