Sudan teachers go on country-wide strike and fuel prices decrease

The Sudan Teachers Committee will start a two-day strike today in all state schools in the country to demand an increase in the minimum wage, in addition to other demands. The price of fuel was reduced by eight per cent yesterday.

The Service Affairs Bureau last week said it had decided to increase teachers’ wages by six per cent. Duriya Babikir, a leader of the Teachers Committee, told Radio Dabanga that this is only a “partial response” by the authorities in an attempt to stop the strike.

The teachers are striking again  “to achieve all the demands put forward by the committee,” said Babikir.

The authorities have previously used bonus payments “as a means to placate teachers,” according to a Sudanese Teachers' Committee statement on October 15. The teachers, who demonstrated for better salaries outside the Council of Minister's headquarters in Khartoum the day after the statement, said this payment barely covered the rise of the cost of living in Sudan.

On November 28, the teachers' committee organised a nationwide comprehensive strike in protest of not receiving their full financial dues, such as back payments that were owed to them as far back as 2020.

In April, their strike efforts led to a meeting with Sudan’s chairman of the Transitional Sovereignty Council and Commander of the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF), Lt Gen Abdelfattah El Burhan, in order to review the committee’s unmet demands. A meeting with the Ministry of Finance agreed upon pledges which include salaries and shortfall in payments, as well as disbursing an Eid al Fitr grant.

The teaching delegation also asked El Burhan to abolish his recent decisions that impacted teachers, and to ensure that teachers would not be punished for "exercising their right to strike."

Price of fuel

The Ministry of Energy and Oil has reduced fuel prices by eight per cent as of Tuesday afternoon. The price of a litre of petrol reportedly went down from SDG720 pounds to SDG660 at fuel stations in Khartoum.

On November 10, the price of petrol increased by almost 20 per cent, while the price of diesel increased by seven per cent as announced by the Ministry of Energy and Mining. The decisions come after a recent cut in prices.

According to economic analyst Hafiz Ismail, the increase can be seen as an unofficial tax increase. The Sudanese government is not receiving any external support for its annual budget for the second year in a row, so it must rely on its own resources to complete the 2023 budget.

After a visit to Washington in mid-October, Minister of Finance Jibril Ibrahim repudiated any further tax increases. Yet, tax collection is below average and the same minister earlier called for expanding the “taxes umbrella” and said that he considered it “the most effective and successful way to increase tax revenues and combat tax evasion”. Sudan witnessed many protests against exorbitant tax increases.

However, Sudanese economists warn that increasing taxes will further increase the economic hardships of many Sudanese.