‘New currency should reach remote areas’

Citizens also demand an extension of the current September 1 deadline

Citizens in the states of Darfur, particularly in remote areas, pleaded to the government authorities on Monday to provide all localities with the new Sudanese currency.They also appealed to the government to extend the September 1 deadline for the complete exchange of currency, by taking into account the difficult security situation in the Darfuri states and the climatic conditions which make transportation to cities difficult.

The extension of the deadline would allow citizens in remote areas who are still in possession of the old currency to replace it.

Asafi Mohamed Tayeb, member of the legislative council of South Darfur, urged the Central Bank of Sudan, the Bank of Sudan and the ministry of finance and national economy to use helicopters to deliver the new currency in remote areas.

“Failure to extend the deadline of currency exchange in the North, West and South of Darfur will result in an economic disaster which will threaten the stability of both citizens and wholesale traders who will lose their money,” he said.

There have been protests in Nyala earlier this month over the lack of new currency in South Darfur. Sudan followed in South Sudan’s footsteps, after the latter decided to introduce a new currency post-independence.