♦ This week’s news in brief ♦

A compact weekly digest of Dabanga Sudan's highlights of the news from Darfur and Sudan

♦ Large spending on army: Economists criticise 2018 budget

December 26 – 2017 KHARTOUM The draft annual budget for 2018 for Sudan allocates a high percentage of revenue to the army, security service and paramilitary forces similarly to in 2017. Just three per cent of the budget is allocated to education. The new budget, similar to previous budgets, relies on direct and indirect taxes to cover its deficit.

Experts and economists strongly criticised the new budget. They pointed out that the Sudanese people will bear the increased prices, expected to increase by 155 per cent. Economic analyst Sidig Kabelo: “This budget will be discussed and approved by the Legislative Council in only a week.”

Planned taxes are not feasible, he said, because many lower incomes (such as tea sellers, food vendors, cart owners and shoe-polishers) are listed below the minimum wage level. Kabelo added that budget plans to reduce the inflation rate from 34 per cent to 19 per cent are “impossible”. “There is a lack of goods and currencies for Sudanese people that leads to a rise of prices.” Sudanese states have witnessed medicine and flour shortages during the past months. Meanwhile the value of the Sudanese Pound has continued to fall against the US Dollar, with the greenback trading at SDG 26.20 on the Khartoum parallel market.

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♦ Dozens of dengue fever cases across Sudan

December 24 – 2017 KHARTOUM According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the Sudanese Ministry of Health has recently reported an increase in the number of suspected dengue fever cases during the period between 2 October and 8 December.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported in its latest biweekly humanitarian bulletin that a total of 137 suspected cases, including three deaths, were reported from Khartoum, East and West Darfur, South Kordofan, River Nile and El Gezira states, Kassala and Red Sea states in this period.

In response, the federal Ministry of Health, the Kassala health authorities, in cooperation with WHO activated a response plan. Mosquito repellents have been distributed to 10,000 school children in Kassala. Additionally, partners have agreed on standardised case definition and the distribution of guidelines and protocols.

The last outbreak of dengue fever in Sudan was reported in 2014 in Red Sea State, with 738 cases reported, including six associated deaths. The worst outbreak in the country was in 2010, with 4,008 cases and 12 deaths reported, according to the WHO’s most recent Epidemiological Monitor.

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