Sudan economist: ‘Unjustifiable rise in petrol prices will further increase the people’s suffering’

In an interview with Radio Dabanga, economic analyst, Hafiz Ismail, described the recent increases by the Ministry of Finance on fuel and electricity as ‘unjustified’, adding that “it will further increase the people’s suffering, especially among low-income earners”.

The price hike in fuel prices set by the Finance Ministry, which soared to 30 per cent recently, comes at a time when the “price of electricity has become dozens of times higher than the value of its production cost,” he said.

These unwarranted price rises are due to an increase in taxes and “fall on the shoulders of people already suffering from difficult economic conditions”.

The economist added that the economy allows for a rise in taxation, but this is “conditional on investing those increases in sectors that can achieve a beneficial return, meaning that a rise in taxation should negate the increases, by improving the people’s condition in other areas of life”.

According to Ismail, the Finance Ministry does the exact opposite in their use of the tax money, as much has been spent on financing and bolstering the security forces.

He warned that the inflationary increases in taxation will adversely impact the people, causing the government to resort to printing more money, which causes inflation, and makes the Sudanese currency susceptible to fluctuation, after only recently recovering in its stability against hard currencies.