(Updates with context on debt negotiations, comment from Suriname minister) NEW YORK, July 29 (Reuters) - Creditors have an essential role in ensuring that Suriname can return to economic growth, IMF Director Kristalina Georgieva said on Thursday, as the South American nation seeks to clinch IMF support amid an ongoing debt restructuring. Suriname last month said creditors had taken a “confrontational attitude” after bondholders walked back a plan to defer payments on $675 million in notes maturing in 2023 and 2026. “Official and private creditors also have an essential role to play in supporting Suriname’s efforts to put its economy on a better path, tackle its high debt burden, and restore debt sustainability,” Georgieva said in a statement. Suriname and the IMF in April reached a preliminary $690 million financing deal. Suriname’s Finance Minister Armand Achaibersing told the country’s parliament on Thursday that the country’s economy has strengthened considerably since the initial IMF deal. “This needs to be factored into the program, because the financing needs will be less stringent than they were when the Staff Level Agreement was reached in April,” Achaibersing said. Creditors say the 70% haircut proposed by Suriname does not take into account its capacity to pay nor the country’s own description of its “bright economic future.” They have also complained about not being sufficiently involved in the IMF financing arrangement. (Reporting by Rodrigo Campos in New York and Ank Kuipers in Paramaribo, writing by Brian Ellsworth; Editing by Sandra Maler and Richard Pullin) Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.