Sudan govt approves revised budget

Sudan’s Sovereign Council and the Council of Minister approved the revised 2020 state budget yesterday.

Information Minister Feisal Mohamed Saleh said that the coronavirus pandemic has led to a decrease in public revenues of 40 per cent, and an increase in the volume of public spending. Changes in the 2020 budget were necessary to mitigate the negative impact of the spread of Covid-19 on the economy, he said.

The government approved a gradual adjustment of the exchange rates of the Dollar and the customs rate of the Dollar over a period of two years “until the real price has been reached”.

It is expected that the economy will start growing by the end of 2021, which would contribute to curbing the high inflation.

Gold

On Sunday, the National Gold Exporters Association demanded that the cabinet puts an end to gold speculation by tightening its control over “the Gold Building” and commercial banks.

Abdelmawla El Gaddal, secretary-general of the association, said in a statement on Sunday that speculation “by government companies” is responsible for the rise in the Dollar exchange rate.

He accused companies and entities he did not name of causing the price of gold to rise with almost SDG2,000* per gram. The price of a gram of gold was SDG7,400 before the Eid El Adha (the Muslim Feast of the Sacrifice that began on July 30). Immediately after the Eid it jumped to SDG9,100. El Gaddal said that the companies bought huge quantities of gold for that price.

The Sudanese government tightened the gold export regulations last month.

* USD 1 = SDG 55.1375 at the time of publishing this article. As effective foreign exchange rates can vary in Sudan, Radio Dabanga bases all SDG currency conversions on the daily middle US Dollar rate quoted by the Central Bank of Sudan (CBoS).

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