• Jennifer Geerling-Simons was elected in July 2025, and has a political career spanning 30 years.  
• She comes into office at a crucial time, as Suriname recently discovered huge oil reserves, and is set to produce 220,000 barrels a day by 2028.  
• Despite this oil finding, Geerlings-Simons’s policy focus remains on diversifying other economic sectors and implementing welfare programmes.

Why is Jennifer Geerlings-Simons’s policy framework MILD?  

Answer: Geerling-Simons has the political will and expertise to make changes to Suriname but is limited by the fragility of her cabinet and government corruption.

Elected on 16 July 2025,  as Suriname’s first female president, Jennifer Geerlings-Simons, leader of the Nationale Democratische Partij (NDP), brings decades of political experience from her tenure in the National Assembly (2010–2020). 

The NDP, historically associated with former dictator Dési Bouterse, returned to power after 5 years.  They won the general elections by securing only one more seat than previous president Santohki’s Progressive Reform Party VHP and forming a broad “rainbow coalition” with five additional parties. This coalition effectively marginalized the VHP and secured the  2/3 supermajority required to pass legislation. However, the cabinet took 4 months to form and exhibits characteristics of a bibbel cabinet: heterogeneous, prone to internal tensions, and vulnerable to indecision. 

These structural vulnerabilities limit Simons’s ability to implement bold reforms, despite her campaign promise to streamline government efficiency and fight corruption.

In practice, Simons has initiated measures to improve fiscal efficiency, particularly targeting tax compliance among large corporations that had stopped paying under the previous cabinet. By addressing VAT leakages and reforming customs collection, she seeks to bolster government revenue. Nevertheless, she remains mild because of her hesitation to identify or remove members of the government involved in the 7.8 million dollars corruption scandal of the previous year. 

Fiscal constraints further restrict her policy ambitions. Indeed, the government lacks funding for October to December. Simon’s claims that the previous administration did not reserve salaries for this period. Hence, Simons’s goals for welfare expansion and business reinvestment are largely unfeasible in the short term. A method to increase funding would be to capitalize on offshore oil projects but Simons’s actions convey caution.  

Oil production is estimated to double government revenue and generate $10bn a year over the course of 10-20 years. However, Simons has adopted a cautious stance, asserting that time is short to prepare the economy to absorb the sector. Instead, she prioritizes entrepreneurship and education as more immediate levers for sustainable development.

Nonetheless, Simons has made concrete progress in laying the groundwork for equitable oil revenue distribution. She made tangible changes to the Royalties for all (RVI) plan, eliminating investor privileges and prioritizing the elderly and disabled in line with the Surinamese constitution. 

Additionally, Simons has launched a local content program for 2026 which gives favor to Surinamese workers being hired for off-shore oil projects. To conclude, Simons’s policy framework is mild because of structural coalition dynamics, fiscal limitations, and cautious engagement with Suriname’s oil boom.

What is changing Jennifer Geerlings-Simons’s heat level?

Answer:  Despite having much more legislative power than before, the country’s economy acts as a barrier to changing her heat level, limiting the implementation of her agenda.

Jennifer Geerling-Simons has been a key figure in Surinamese politics since 2010 and recently became NDP chair following Bouterse’s death.  Her career has focused on legislative reform, social development, consensus building, and public accountability, including leading Suriname through the Covid crisis. While her previous role as speaker/chairperson limited her legislative power, she now has greater authority to pursue her policy goals, but faces significant socio-economic constraints that restrict her freedom to act.

Suriname is impaired by a structurally weak economy and a 7 billion dollar debt owed primarily to the IMF which spearheaded the country’s austerity measures. While accredited to having lowered inflation, increasing economic growth and boosting investor confidence, much of this progress has come at the cost of increased civilian dissatisfaction.  

The country faced mass protests in 2023 against the IMF and President Santhoki, fueled by worsening microeconomic conditions, undermined the previous administration and contributed to Simons’s rise, leaving the opposition fragmented but highlighting the deep social pressures she now inherits. Consequently, Simons’s ability to leverage international instruments is constrained. She has sought alternative avenues, notably partnering with the World Bank to establish working groups for vocational and technical training for Surinamese workers. That said, these initiatives are unlikely to fully offset systemic economic weaknesses. 

Additionally, many state-owned sectors remain in crisis. For example,  Suriname Luchtvaart Maatschappij (SLM) has been unprofitable for years, a dilemma also faced by the Stichting Ziekenfonds (SZF) and the Company of Medicines Provision Suriname (BGVS). Simons has signaled a decisive break from past practices by refusing automatic bailouts, even considering the dissolution of failing institutions. While this approach may improve governmental efficiency, it carries trade-offs: reduced tourism, constrained opportunities, and potential instability in health services,  all critical to her policy objectives. 

With many government owned companies facing financial deficits, mismanagement, poor quality of service and government bail outs, her scope is increasingly mild.

What is driving Jennifer Geerlings-Simons?

Answer: A desire to retain skilled labour and protect the environment are cornerstones of her motivations.

Domestic development in Suriname is stifled by its large diaspora population that exports skilled labour away from the country. Roughly 40% of the population lives abroad and only contributes 3.4% of the total GDP in remittances. Resultingly,  Geerlings-Simons’s administration aims to retain young and skilled workers to directly foster domestic development within Suriname. Simons has introduced youth programs like holiday jobs and Krin Kondre project that display her passion for the issue. However, many of these positions offer minimal pay, limited skills training, and little practical experience, limiting their developmental value. 

In addition to social policies, the environment is a key focus of Surinamese politics given that 94% of the country is covered by rainforest. However, due to recent economic hardship, logging and pressure to exploit the rainforest has increased. For Geerling-Simons the rainforest is a personal driving force, as she shares a deep affinity for the country’s nature. After becoming president she committed suriname to permanently protect 90% of its rainforest, ensuring progressive policy-making even after her time in office. At the UN general assembly, she advocated for carbon credit systems that could increase the revenue generated from the forest.  

Her environmental priorities extend to the emerging oil sector. For instance, TotalEnergies has pledged to implement operational efficiency measures. This includes all-electric FPSO configurations, methane sensors, and optimized power usage. This aligns with Simons’s green growth approach. However, such measures offer limited immediate economic relief to the broader population, highlighting the tension between long-term sustainability goals and short-term socio-economic needs. 

What does this mean for you?

Answer: Suriname is likely to achieve economic stability, but rapid prosperity may remain elusive.

Geerling-Simons focus on transparency, small to medium sized businesses and the youth of suriname are crucial to ensure rebuild trust broken by a previous government marred by clientelism, corruption and IMF intervention. This shift in governance could lay the foundation for more effective, accountable leadership.

However, her cautious approach to the emerging oil sector and focus on sustainable growth without a long-term, comprehensive strategy limits immediate economic impact. The country remains constrained by debt and weak fiscal practices. Even with future revenue from oil and taxes, much will likely be allocated to debt repayment and welfare services. Consequently, Suriname may not rapidly expand its regional economic role, but it could establish long-term political and economic stability.

Suriname may face challenges similar to those of neighboring Guyana. Indeed, they discovered significant oil reserves a decade ago. Despite substantial oil-driven growth, Guyana continues to experience labor shortages and capacity constraints, limiting its ability to convert natural resource wealth into a stronger global position, a trajectory Suriname may also follow.