Venezuela's crisis impacting nearby Suriname, where economy is collapsing

It is a South American nation in crisis: Businesses are closing, food prices are soaring and hospitals are running out of basic supplies such as paper towels and bandages. No, this isn't Venezuela but rather nearby Suriname, a multi-ethnic former Dutch colony where the economy is in freefall amid collapsing global commodity prices and the local currency's resulting slide against the U.S. dollar. Life has become exceedingly difficult in this isolated country of about 540,000 people on South America's northeastern coast, which the World Bank says now has the world's third highest rate of inflation, behind Venezuela and South Sudan. More…