Liquidity crisis: Airlines stop taking bookings in Sudan

Several international airlines including Kenya Airways, Emirates Airlines, Etihad Airways, and Qatar Airways have reportedly stopped taking bookings for tickets in Sudan because of Sudanese civil aviation’s obligation for travel agencies not to sell tickets in US Dollars.

Travel agencies said civil aviation notified the travel agencies in Sudan to sell tickets at the official exchange rate of SDG 47.5 and threatened to close agencies that did not comply with the decision.

They pointed out that the decision is causing travel agencies heavy losses due to price differences in the parallel market.

However, the Civil Aviation Authority distanced itself from the pricing of airline tickets according to the Market Makers Mechanism.

The official spokesman Abdelhafiz Abdelrahim said that the pricing of tickets according to the exchange rate is done by the Central Bank of Sudan and the Ministry of Finance and the price of jet fuel is the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Oil and the Ministry of Finance.

The liquidity crisis has led to rise of consumer goods and food prices as well as stagnant markets.

People said that commercial movement is almost frozen due to lack of liquidity, while the authorities campaign to get levies and fees from the traders have been ongoing.

South Darfur

Nyala, capital of South Darfur is experiencing a severe liquidity crisis. A number of residents said that banks apologise to the customers for lack of liquidity, and sometimes ask them to wait until other customers deposit cash.

* As effective foreign exchange rates can vary widely in Sudan, Radio Dabanga bases all SDG currency conversions on the Market Makers Mechanism-determined daily US Dollar rate quoted by the Central Bank of Sudan (CBoS).