Central Bank of Sudan faces ‘structural changes’

The Central Bank of Sudan (CBoS) is to undergo structural changes to bring it in line with the international banking system, but will not change the Sudanese currency at this time. He says Sudan’s liquidity problems have been “completely solved”.

In a press conference on Wednesday, CBoS director Badreldin Ibrahim, said that appointments to the bank will be opened in 2020, with all staff appointments endorsed by a selection committee.

He explained that the selection committee will achieve transparency and ensure that the bank attracts staff with the competencies to change the current composition within the bank. Ibrahim acknowledged that during the 30 years of the deposed Al Bashir regime, no employee in the bank was appointed through the selection committee.

He announced plans to merge and recapitalise Sudanese banks, explaining that the new policies of the bank are based on the global policies of banks, according to the Constitutional Declaration.

World Bank supervision

Ibrahim said that a law will be passed to restructure the bank, under the supervision of a team from the World Bank, to assist the CBoS to achieve independence and strengthen its position.

He also expects to receive “some financial resources, technical and commodity support from Friends of Sudan”, asserting that “the liquidity problem has been completely solved, and banks are now facing problems with storage capacity for cash. Confidence [in the banks] has returned stronger than it was.”

Ibrahim concluded that there is no intention to make changes to the Sudanese Pound at this time “as it is rumoured”, and he said that the plan includes trying to reduce borrowing by government from the CBoS.

Hyperinflation

During the last year, banks across the country limited cash withdrawals, which intensified in the run-up to the overthrow in the Al Bashir regime in April 2019. This resulted in long queues of customers trying to withdraw a little cash from the banks. Public trust in the banking system dwindled, so traders and the public took to keeping their money at home, rather than deposit it into banks.

The socioeconomic detritus of the 30-year dictatorship of Al Bashir left Sudan’s economy in ruins, with the value of the Sudanese Pound (SDG) at all-time lows against international currencies.

In its dying throes, the Al Bashir regime desperately ordered the printing of new currency denominations of SDG 100, SDG 200, and SDG 500 by the CBoS in an attempt to solve the chronic public and commercial liquidity crisis.

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