A Stroke of the Pen in Washington... and the Currency's Decline in Khartoum

29-8-2018

-        Sudan, which has come to import all its needs from abroad...did not rejoice at the lifting of US economic sanctions in October 2017, for what was announced was the lifting of trade sanctions on Sudan by the US Treasury Department, while Sudan's name remains listed by the US Department of State as one of the State Sponsors of Terrorism, and therefore, the American stroke of the pen was not complete in removing Sudan's name from the list of State Sponsors of Terrorism, which cast a dark shadow over the Sudanese economy and its currency, by creating a black market in the country, where the Sudanese pound recently reached 46 pounds against the US dollar... despite the devaluation of the Sudanese pound twice in January and February respectively...this year, the exchange rate for the pound was set at the beginning of the year at 18 Sudanese pounds to one US dollar, from a rate of 6.7 pounds...and the exchange rate for the pound was set in the next devaluation in February this year to become 28.7 Sudanese pounds to one US dollar...noting that the black market rate is much higher than that, as it reached as we noted earlier a value of 46 pounds to one US dollar.

-        Sudanese Investment Minister and Deputy Prime Minister "Mubarak al-Fadil" announced at a press conference yesterday that Sudan did not benefit from the US decision to lift the trade embargo...and added that the Sudanese pound has lost 50% of its value in recent months...

-        Meanwhile, commodity prices rose significantly, and inflation reached 34% a week ago...and Sudan was ranked third globally in terms of the rapid successive rise in prices, after South Sudan and Venezuela...

-        Global banks and financial institutions avoid investing in Sudan, given Sudan's continued listing as a State Sponsor of Terrorism...and therefore they fear large financial fines if they were to enter into investment deals in Sudan....in addition to these investors' fear of being unable to repatriate net profits from their investments in foreign currencies.....in Sudan..noting that some foreign banks operate in Sudan such as Arab British Bank, and Canadian banks..

-        The Sudanese market suffers from a severe shortage of foreign currency balances, due to its reliance on imports to secure its needs and goods...Sudan's monetary and financial authorities are attempting to limit imports from abroad to basic goods, and recently, in its approach to increase the supply of foreign currencies and reduce demand for them, Sudan referred many currency traders to the courts, and imposed restrictions on deposit in dollars in the Sudanese banking system...and set withdrawal ceilings from individuals' and companies' accounts in foreign currencies...despite the insufficient availability of dollars in Sudanese banks...in addition to Sudan's attempts to combat smuggling across borders and ports...Sudan is also trying to increase the investments of Chinese and Malaysian oil companies present in the country, in the course of its campaign to regulate its hot market...Sudan had refused advice from the International Monetary Fund at the end of last year to liberalize the exchange rates of the Sudanese pound against foreign currencies..
Sudan, after the secession of the South from it in 2011, retained only 25% of its oil exports, while South Sudan holds 75% of Sudan's oil, and it is worth noting that total oil production in Sudan...including the South, amounts to approximately half a million barrels per day...

-        In its emergency plans, Sudan is trying to increase production and exports, and reduce imports to create a balance in its trade account...and it is trying to activate border trade with countries adjacent to Sudan, which are: Egypt, Libya, Chad, the Central African Republic, South Sudan and Ethiopia. And Chad...
It seems that Sudan, which is under pressure from here and there....and which was formerly nicknamed the Arab world's food basket.....is called to submit politically....to American directives ...and their allies..in the region...so that they in Washington may try to complete their stroke of the pen......and lift the declared American anger...and others' anger..perhaps and may be.....

-        "Write, O Hussein" !

·       The information in this post is drawn from some research papers, booklets and official statistics, journals and Sudanese and international press...