‘Sudanese Pound could fall below SDG 50 to the US Dollar’: Economist

Economists and academics have strongly criticised the Sudanese government's tough measures to counter the collapse of the Sudanese Pound (SDG) against foreign currencies and its decisions to charge foreign currency dealers with sabotaging national economy, money laundering and terrorism financing and sentencing them to death penalty and life imprisonment in case of conviction.

In an interview with Radio Dabanga to be broadcast on Wednesday, economic expert Professor Hamid El Tijani who lectures in public policy in the American University in Cairo, has considered the decisions “arbitrarily, miserable and a clear indication of the failure of economic policies pursued by the government.

“The root economic problems cannot be addressed by security solutions,” he says.

Prof El Tijani said that the recent decisions returned the country to the station in 1989 in reference to the execution of a number of currency dealers, saying that the goal is to intimidate people.

He downplayed the impact of the government decisions on the Dollar and expected a steady rise in its exchange rate to exceed the limit of SDG 50.

‘Leaking measures to traders’

Prof El Tijani accused the security services and government executives of engaging in currency speculation and leaking of the economic measures to the Dollar traders which leads to their ineffectiveness.

He said that stopping government construction, purchase of vehicles and rationalisation of government spending is not new.

Prof El Tijani added that the government will not dare or be able to implement them because that is contrary to the interests of the executive and the politicians. He ridiculed the promises, pledges and expectations of the government about the US Dollar decrease after the lifting of the US economic sanctions.

He pointed out that the current reality has turned the government propaganda a lie.

El Tijani said that the government decisions will lead to scarcity of the Dollar, steady increase in its exchange rate and shift of speculation in the currency abroad.

He said that the economic crisis in the Gulf countries has exacerbated the economic situation in Sudan.

Scarcity of Dollar

He attributed the rise in the Dollar against the Pound to the scarcity of the Dollar, the decrease in agricultural and industrial production and the exports and the increase in the imports, in addition to the high inflation rates which force people to save their savings in hard currency.

He conditioned decrease in the price of the Dollar to a comprehensive political reform that leads to economic reform.

He stressed that the crisis cannot be resolved in the light of the situation of Sudan in the list of countries sponsoring terrorism, the increased spending on war, government militias and security services and the fact that Sudan is ruled by a President wanted by the International Criminal Court.