{"id":175649,"date":"2018-10-09T12:36:00","date_gmt":"2018-10-09T12:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dabangasudan.preview.websight.nl\/sudan-mps-slate-parliamentary-travel-bill\/"},"modified":"2018-10-09T12:36:00","modified_gmt":"2018-10-09T12:36:00","slug":"sudan-mps-slate-parliamentary-travel-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dabangasudan.org\/en\/all-news\/article\/sudan-mps-slate-parliamentary-travel-bill","title":{"rendered":"Sudan MPs slate SDG 180 million parliamentary travel bill"},"content":{"rendered":"

Independent Sudanese Members of Parliament have criticised the high cost of foreign trips by MPs, branding it ‘a waste of public money.’<\/strong><\/p>\n

In group of independent MP told Radio Dabanga that the cost of foreign trips by parliament this year has been about SDG 180 million ($6.4 million*).<\/p>\n

“Spending this kind of money [on foreign travel] confirms that the parliament does not feel the suffering of the Sudanese people amid the hardship of living. It is a waste of public money in parliamentary travel with little return.”<\/p>\n

They pointed out that there is also bias on the allocation of resources: “While they are prepared to spend SDG 180 million on foreign travel, the parliament refused to grant MPs a vehicle to travel to El Buheira village in Sudan’s River Nile state to console the families of victims of the of the tragedy of August 15<\/a> in which 22 school children and a woman doctor drowned when the boat they were travelling capsized in the Nile.<\/p>\n

Liquidity crisis<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sudan is suffering from a chronic lack of hard currency and cash<\/a><\/u>, while exports remain low. High inflation<\/a><\/u> figures caused a severe drop<\/a><\/u> in purchasing power<\/a><\/u> among the Sudanese since early January, after the government implemented major austerity measures.<\/p>\n

The country also witnessed repeated fuel<\/a><\/u> and wheat<\/a><\/u> shortages. Several economists have warned for an economic collapse<\/a><\/u>.<\/p>\n

In a speech to the Parliament last week<\/a>, President Omar Al Bashir said that Sudan has passed through a rise of prices and scarcity of liquidity, and will continue to do so in the future.<\/p>\n

* Based on the indicative US Dollar rate quoted by the Central Bank of Sudan (CBoS)<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n