Economic Constraints versus Financial Accessibility
Good and functional infrastructure is more important than the construction and erection of admirable buildings. The construction of functional infrastructure in whatever form ensures that people, materials and goods can come together to trade, for example, or to bring together connections or networks.
For economic purposes, functional infrastructure ensures that we are able to do business and build ourselves, which further contributes to the construction of our society. Infrastructure is therefore the backbone of all economic and social growth. It improves access to basic services such as clean drinking water and electricity in the interior and it opens up areas in a financial-economic way through the incorporation of digital and/or technological services.
Partly because of this, it creates jobs and stimulates business. The construction of functional infrastructure is an absolute gift from our ancestors, and in recent decades experts have devised and constructed a range of different types of infrastructure for various sectors with their own standards and norms, which in turn have inventively found a connection with the now complex world infrastructure that keeps the process of globalization alive.
As Surinamese, we can therefore praise the fact that groundbreaking work has been done in recent years in the construction of roads and bridges, and that certain parts of Suriname have been opened up, which has resulted in a social spin-off effect. However, there is a branch within the infrastructure that receives little to no government attention, and that also receives little to no impulses from the private and public sectors in terms of investment, which means that the possibilities and potential of this infrastructural branch remain untapped.
Investing in functional and efficient infrastructure, whether tangible (= roads & bridges) or intangible (= technology & science), is not only a requirement to ensure growth, but it is a determining factor that will sustain and sustain growth in the broadest sense of the word for the long term.
It is this branch, namely the Financial Technology (Fintech) sector, that has made developed continents such as Europe, North America and Asia, into inventive and unbeaten traders and economic giants worldwide. It is an inevitable sector that has enabled these economic giants to create competitive markets and sustainable ecosystems for their merchandise. Through Financial Technology (Fintech), many countries outside their direct economic zone have gained access to their markets. This proves that when designing basic infrastructure, it is not just about building roads and bridges, but even more about exchanging data, information and money.
It is therefore high time for Suriname as a developing country to build bridges to FinTech and Web3.0 protocols, so that we can also build our socio-economic society. It must become our highest priority, if we want to secure sustainable development and promote decentralization, given that the economic order and its complex infrastructure with all its ramifications, are the foundation of growth and prosperity of all other sectors and industries. It must become our priority in Suriname to create laws and standards, so that Surinamese can safely and comfortably make the transition from an established and outdated financial-economic society to the new financial world order. A crossing to access to more financial possibilities, freedoms, fair opportunities and equality.
However, our greatest shortcoming in being able to cross these bridges to a new financial world order, lies in the weight of cash money that we all stubbornly carry with us and cannot or do not want to part with. An unmistakable and dizzying cash culture, which will be demonstrably ruthless in the midst of local and global (hyper)inflation, a (coming) world recession and astronomical debts, because we do not have the advantage of easily moving financial resources or making lightning-fast conversions to protect capital and wealth. As we notice today, maintaining a cash culture brings with it enormous economic shortcomings, financial-administrative discrepancies and blood-curdling financial challenges, not to mention fraud, corruption and money laundering practices. The use of cash in almost all branches and sectors of Suriname, is the biggest cause of how we develop as a society, trade and especially move forward, which means that connection with the financial-economic outside world is not an issue. The dependency on this cash culture is therefore one (1) of the main reasons, which holds back crucial innovative financial technology, slows down development and especially limits financial maturity and possibilities.
A good example of our economic backwardness and cash culture, in relation to not having a connection with foreign financial possibilities, is for example the fact that a simple payment app such as PayPal does not work fully in Suriname. Another example is the fact that the Central Bank of Suriname as central financial authority, has to send containers full of cash to foreign correspondent banks to settle accounts there, for the continuation of local and/or international financial services.
An answer to most of these challenges and obstacles is therefore the introduction and incorporation of decentralized and innovative technology, such as blockchain technology, in business models, resulting in a reduction in bureaucracy, corruption, money laundering and discrimination. Blockchain-powered systems further reduce delays and congestion in financial-economic traffic, promote decentralization, stimulate fair opportunities, and have a positive impact on the conduct of trade and the exchange of information and data in the broadest sense of the word. The purpose of the use must be exclusively to raise the level and standards of all markets and sectors in Suriname and to offer Surinamese more equal opportunities on, for example, capital markets, both locally and internationally, in order to stimulate creativity, create new markets, but above all to promote development and growth.
Investing in functional and efficient infrastructure, be it material (= roads & bridges) or immaterial (= technology & science), is not only a requirement to ensure growth, but it is a determining factor that will maintain and sustain growth in the broadest sense of the word for the long term.
Source: Key News 07/02/23
Author: Anthony Sporkslede-Stewart | Founder & CEO Mercury Iconex
For economic purposes, functional infrastructure ensures that we are able to do business and build ourselves, which further contributes to the construction of our society. Infrastructure is therefore the backbone of all economic and social growth. It improves access to basic services such as clean drinking water and electricity in the interior and it opens up areas in a financial-economic way through the incorporation of digital and/or technological services.
Partly because of this, it creates jobs and stimulates business. The construction of functional infrastructure is an absolute gift from our ancestors, and in recent decades experts have devised and constructed a range of different types of infrastructure for various sectors with their own standards and norms, which in turn have inventively found a connection with the now complex world infrastructure that keeps the process of globalization alive.
As Surinamese, we can therefore praise the fact that groundbreaking work has been done in recent years in the construction of roads and bridges, and that certain parts of Suriname have been opened up, which has resulted in a social spin-off effect. However, there is a branch within the infrastructure that receives little to no government attention, and that also receives little to no impulses from the private and public sectors in terms of investment, which means that the possibilities and potential of this infrastructural branch remain untapped.
Investing in functional and efficient infrastructure, whether tangible (= roads & bridges) or intangible (= technology & science), is not only a requirement to ensure growth, but it is a determining factor that will sustain and sustain growth in the broadest sense of the word for the long term.
It is this branch, namely the Financial Technology (Fintech) sector, that has made developed continents such as Europe, North America and Asia, into inventive and unbeaten traders and economic giants worldwide. It is an inevitable sector that has enabled these economic giants to create competitive markets and sustainable ecosystems for their merchandise. Through Financial Technology (Fintech), many countries outside their direct economic zone have gained access to their markets. This proves that when designing basic infrastructure, it is not just about building roads and bridges, but even more about exchanging data, information and money.
It is therefore high time for Suriname as a developing country to build bridges to FinTech and Web3.0 protocols, so that we can also build our socio-economic society. It must become our highest priority, if we want to secure sustainable development and promote decentralization, given that the economic order and its complex infrastructure with all its ramifications, are the foundation of growth and prosperity of all other sectors and industries. It must become our priority in Suriname to create laws and standards, so that Surinamese can safely and comfortably make the transition from an established and outdated financial-economic society to the new financial world order. A crossing to access to more financial possibilities, freedoms, fair opportunities and equality.
However, our greatest shortcoming in being able to cross these bridges to a new financial world order, lies in the weight of cash money that we all stubbornly carry with us and cannot or do not want to part with. An unmistakable and dizzying cash culture, which will be demonstrably ruthless in the midst of local and global (hyper)inflation, a (coming) world recession and astronomical debts, because we do not have the advantage of easily moving financial resources or making lightning-fast conversions to protect capital and wealth. As we notice today, maintaining a cash culture brings with it enormous economic shortcomings, financial-administrative discrepancies and blood-curdling financial challenges, not to mention fraud, corruption and money laundering practices. The use of cash in almost all branches and sectors of Suriname, is the biggest cause of how we develop as a society, trade and especially move forward, which means that connection with the financial-economic outside world is not an issue. The dependency on this cash culture is therefore one (1) of the main reasons, which holds back crucial innovative financial technology, slows down development and especially limits financial maturity and possibilities.
A good example of our economic backwardness and cash culture, in relation to not having a connection with foreign financial possibilities, is for example the fact that a simple payment app such as PayPal does not work fully in Suriname. Another example is the fact that the Central Bank of Suriname as central financial authority, has to send containers full of cash to foreign correspondent banks to settle accounts there, for the continuation of local and/or international financial services.
An answer to most of these challenges and obstacles is therefore the introduction and incorporation of decentralized and innovative technology, such as blockchain technology, in business models, resulting in a reduction in bureaucracy, corruption, money laundering and discrimination. Blockchain-powered systems further reduce delays and congestion in financial-economic traffic, promote decentralization, stimulate fair opportunities, and have a positive impact on the conduct of trade and the exchange of information and data in the broadest sense of the word. The purpose of the use must be exclusively to raise the level and standards of all markets and sectors in Suriname and to offer Surinamese more equal opportunities on, for example, capital markets, both locally and internationally, in order to stimulate creativity, create new markets, but above all to promote development and growth.
Investing in functional and efficient infrastructure, be it material (= roads & bridges) or immaterial (= technology & science), is not only a requirement to ensure growth, but it is a determining factor that will maintain and sustain growth in the broadest sense of the word for the long term.
Source: Key News 07/02/23
Author: Anthony Sporkslede-Stewart | Founder & CEO Mercury Iconex
Updated on: 14/12/2024
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