Suriname is at serious risk of being placed on an international anti-money laundering blacklist unless urgent action is taken to strengthen its regulatory framework, the country’s National Anti-Money Laundering Commission (NAMLAC) has warned in an urgent letter addressed to President Jennifer Simons.
The warning comes nearly four years after Suriname’s last major international assessment by the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF), the regional body that enforces global standards set by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). In 2022, the CFATF placed Suriname under its Enhanced Follow Up process after the country received low marks for both technical compliance and the practical effectiveness of its anti-money laundering, counter-terrorist financing, and counter-proliferation financing (AML/CFT/CPF) regime. At that time, Suriname was granted a deadline extending to 2027 to address all identified gaps and bring its rules in line with FATF’s 40 core recommendations.
Between 2023 and 2025, Suriname made measurable progress, securing improved ratings for compliance with 27 of the 40 FATF recommendations. However, the country has hit a critical deadlock over the remaining 13 reforms. According to NAMLAC, Suriname was unable to submit any new progress assessment requests to the CFATF in 2026 because Suriname’s National Assembly has not passed any of the required legislation to address the outstanding gaps. Worse, the CFATF’s submission window for new progress updates has already closed.
Suriname is scheduled to present its fourth Follow Up Report to the CFATF plenary assembly in November 2026. At that meeting, international assessors will conduct a full review of whether Suriname has implemented sufficient reforms to meet global FATF standards. The review will also evaluate the Suriname government’s political commitment to the reforms, the strengthening of domestic regulatory institutions, and the country’s track record on both national and international collaboration to combat illicit financial activity.
NAMLAC has stressed that all remaining compliance updates must be submitted by no later than August 2026 to allow for the final report to be prepared in time for the November plenary. The commission has made clear that if insufficient progress is documented by the assessment deadline, blacklisting remains a very real possibility for Suriname.