Oil drums. File photo for representational purposes only.
Paramaribo, Suriname: Suriname's president on Monday announced a program of "Royalties for Everyone" as the South American nation plans for a boon from recently discovered oil and gas reserves.
Suriname and neighbor Guyana, both former Dutch colonies, expect to rake in billions in the years to come from rich offshore crude deposits.
Experts have said Suriname -- a country of 600,000 people -- stands to make about $10 billion in the next 10 to 20 years.
Almost one in five Surinamese today live in poverty, according to World Bank figures. Annual GDP is about $3.4 billion
Last month, French group TotalEnergies announced a $10.5-billion project to utilise an oil field off Suriname's coast with a capacity of producing 220,000 barrels per day.
Production should start in 2028.
On Monday, President Chan Santokhi said royalties will be paid "so that every Surinamese can benefit and profit from oil and gas."
Each citizen would receive an amount of $750 in a savings account, with an annual interest rate of seven percent, he said in an Independence Day address.
"Everyone shall benefit from this opportunity and no one will be left behind," the president vowed. "You are co-owners of the oil incomes."
Santokhi had previously told AFP his country was "quite aware of the oil curse," also known as "Dutch disease" that had befallen other resource-rich countries such as Venezuela, Angola and Algeria that were unable to turn oil wealth into economic success.
With its oil wealth, Norway became an exception to the "curse" by building a sovereign wealth fund for hard times.
Suriname has set up a similar fund in expectation of the oil cash influx.
