Sudan's 9-Month Economic Recovery Plan
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Sudan is starting a nine-month
economic rescue plan from October. The transitional government says this will
curbing rampant inflation while ensuring supplies of basic goods. Sudan is asking the World Bank for 2
billion US dollar.
Shortages of bread, fuel and
medicine coupled with hefty price rises sparked protests that led to the
toppling of former president Omar al-Bashir in April.
The economy has remained in
turmoil as politicians negotiated a power-sharing deal between the military
and civilians. The government was appointed this month.
Finance Minister Ibrahim
Elbadawi told reporters the new plan would restructure the budget and tackle
inflation but leave bread and petrol subsidies in place until at least June
2020.
The transitional government,
led by Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, is Sudan’s first since Bashir’s
overthrow.
The government needs billions
of dollars to import basic goods such as fuel and flour. Fuel subsidies
account for 8 pecent of gross domestic product says Elbadawi.
The government wants to
replace commodity subsidies with direct cash transfers to poor families by
the end of the rescue plan, he added.
Hamdok, now in New York, will
ask the World Bank for $2 billion in funding, Elbadawi said. Khartoum has
asked the bank to send three Sudanese experts as secondees and to help pay
their salaries to improve central bank and finance ministry performance
during the political transition.
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