Sovereign Fund set-up in Sudan to manage seized properties

Sudan’s Minister of Finance has announced the establishment of a mechanism to manage properties recovered by the Empowerment* Elimination, Anti-Corruption, and Funds Recovery Committee in the past months. The new salary structure will be implemented this month.

Minister of Finance Ibrahim El Badawi stated on Thursday that his ministry established a Sovereign Fund for the management of illegally acquired properties seized from officials of the former regime since January this year.

The confiscated assets and lands will support the 2020 national budget, the new salary structure, and the expenditure on measures to ward off the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, he said.

El Badawi further announced that Sudan has gone ahead with the implementation of the new salary structure for the civil servants in the country. He noted that the salary increases will contribute to the national economy and reduce inflation.

The minister emphasised that the salary increase will not lead to an increase in the already high inflation rates, as economists predicted. He explained that “the doubling of the monetary mass”, especially in 2016, has caused the soaring inflation.

He said he expects the increase in wages will reduce the economic recession caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

In March, Minister of Trade and Industry Madani Abbas announced “unprecedented increases” of the salaries in the country. A month later, the Ministry of Finance confirmed an average increase of 569 per cent, the largest in the history of the Civil Service in the country. The raise would be paid with the salary of May.

* Empowerment (tamkin) is the term with which the ousted government of Omar Al Bashir supported its affiliates in state affairs by granting them far-going privileges, including government functions and the setting-up of various companies.

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