Sudanese Pound continues flux against US Dollar

The value of the Sudanese Pound continues to fluctuate against the US Dollar. Opposition forces predict it will get worse before it gets any better.

For the last weeks, the official daily rate for the greenback as quoted by the Central Bank of Sudan has been set at SDG 47.50. This is based on the rate determined by the Market Makers Committee (MMC), established by the Sudanese government last month to determine foreign exchange rates and designed to curb the increasing US Dollar (USD) rates against the Sudanese Pound (SDG) in the parallel forex market.

However, the currency slumped to SDG 58 for a Dollar this week, while selling rates eased slightly on Wednesday.

NUP

Imam El Sadig El Mahdi, the head of the opposition National Umma Party, predicted that the Dollar would rise from SDG 47.5 to SDG 73 in the future.

He said that the continuous devaluation of the national currency and finally through a committee tasked with floating it would lead to a continuous reduction, because the country does not have a market-backed reserve.

He predicted that the inflation rate in 2019 would rise to 70 per cent, while the budget deficit would amount to up to 5.2 per cent of the national income.

He stressed that the continued tension in regions of the country will not allow the reduction required in government expenses, so the budget deficit will continue.

‘Government fighting a real battle’

Sudan’s Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Moutaz Mous,a said that the government is now fighting a real battle to unify the Dollar price and stressed that the government will not retreat until the end.

The Prime Minister said it is difficult to judge the failure of the mechanism of market makers ahead of a four-month assessment of its work and pointed to the existence of “huge amounts of money outside the banking system”.

He added, “The government cannot pump funds [into banks] while the citizen withdraws and stores”.

He stressed the need to return these funds to the banks through outstanding actions while retaining the funds owed to the citizen.