Sudan faces economic decline as Pound dips further

The price for the US Dollar jumped to SDG580 on the parallel market on Wednesday, while it ranged in banks between SDG530 and SDG560; up from yesterday’s exchange rate at SDG570.

The Central Bank of Sudan stopped issuing the indicative price after announcing the unification of the Sudanese Pound exchange rate, allowing the determination of currency exchange rates without interference from the Central Bank. Sudan is forecasted to suffer a steep economic decline without sufficient reserves.

Economist Hasan Bashir said in an interview with Sudan Today in Radio Dabanga that the full liberalisation of the exchange rate under the absence of enough foreign exchange reserve will lead to the continued rise in foreign exchange rates in the parallel market and explained that banks will remain in a continuous state of chasing the parallel market rates.

Bashir also said the resolution could be addressed part of short-term implications but was not a sustainable solution. He said the aftermath of the October 25 military coup is exacerbating the economic crisis and cut off the road to economic growth in Sudan this year, that already took a full year to start to recover take off the Sudanese economy.

The economic impacts have already been noticed in the last week by people in Sudan’s capital of Khartoum. The price of fuel in Khartoum rose from SDG415 to SDG547 per litre, and the price of diesel rose to SDG507 per litre. The owners of petrol stations attributed the increase to the high price of the Dollar.

Activists and journalists reported that a number of pharmaceutical companies have stopped their sales and expected that other companies will follow suit, due to the rapid increase of the Dollar.

People in Khartoum noticed a lack of private vehicles on the roads and a significant increase in transportation tariffs, as well as a significant increase in the price of vegetables, especially tomatoes.