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Sudan takes fresh measures to bring economy on sound track

Xinhua, November 4, 2016 Adjust font size:

Sudan government announced late Thursday a package of economic decisions with increase in fuel and electricity prices.

Sudan's Finance Minister Badr-Eddin Mahmoud made the announcement at a press conference late Thursday, noting that the new measures tend to curb up the rise in inflation rates and stop decline of national currency.

"Our goal is for the country's 2017 budget to be better than 2016, where the measures tend to achieve an increase of about 5.5 percent in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), reduce inflation rates, reform the exchange price and reduce importation by preventing unnecessary commodities," said the minister.

He declared that the price of a gallon of benzine is increased from 21 Sudanese pounds (SDGs) to 27, 5, noting that the electricity tariff for consumers of over 400 kilowatts has also been increased.

According to the new decisions, the price of a litre of benzine for the consumer is set at 6.17 SDGs and that of gasoline is 4.11 SDGs, while the price of a gallon of kerosene is set at 18.8 SDGs.

The minister explained that the increase on electricity is set at 0.06 SDGs per kilowatt for consumers of over 400 kilowatts and 0.20 SDGs per kilowatt for users of more than 800 kilowatts.

The minister refuted that the new package of economic measures were at the directives of the World Bank, explaining that it is a government program without any pressure from any party.

In September 2013, the Sudanese government adopted a package of economic measures to revive the economy including an increase in the oil prices, which then prompted wide protests across the country.

The Sudanese economy has been suffering from difficulties as a result of the separation with South Sudan in July 2011 together with the U.S economic sanctions. Endit