100 Sudanese Pound bank notes printed

Yesterday, the director of the Central Bank of Sudan, Mohamed El Zubeir announced the completion of the printing of the new 100 Pound bank notes, which will be presented with January salaries, and announced the start of printing of 200 and 500 Pound notes.

The director of the Sudanese currency printing company, Salah Mohamed Ali, said that the new categories of currency have high security features in accordance with international specifications, pointing out that the Sudanese Company for currency printing owns the most modern machinery.

Over the past few months, as the value of the Sudanese Pound has dropped steadily against the US Dollar. In December 2018, the Central Bank of Sudan issued a decision to set the limit of cash withdrawals by bank cards at ATMs at SDG 20,000 ($421*) a month.

Chronic cash shortages

On January 16, it was reported by Radio Dabanga that the country-wide liquidity crisis continues without a solution in sight. Each day sees hundreds of residents queueing at the cash points throughout the country.

At this time, a teacher reported to Radio Dabanga that he went to more than five cashiers in Khartoum, but they were all empty. He said an employee at one of the banks confirmed the lack of liquidity at the banks, and that any person with a bank account is entitled to withdraw only SDG 500 ($10.50*).

Salah Shuaib, in an op-ed written for Radio Dabanga, explained that: “The deteriorating economic situation, which is the well-seen factor of the crisis, threatens the stability of the country – in the absence of practical government solutions to the escalating rise in prices, the rise of the inflation rate, the official government devaluation of the Sudanese Pound, the reduction in cash withdrawals, and the disruption of all productive projects of the state and the private sector.”

Demonstrations that demand the withdrawal of the current regime in Sudan, sparked by the chronic shortage of cash and rising prices of bread and fuel, have just entered their second month.

* As effective foreign exchange rates can vary widely in Sudan, Radio Dabanga bases all SDG currency conversions on the Market Makers Mechanism-determined daily US Dollar rate quoted by the Central Bank of Sudan (CBoS).