Sudan maintains policy of economic reform: PM

Monitoring Desk

KHARTOUM: Sudan will continue on the path towards economic liberalization despite the many challenges facing the country, Prime Minister Bakri Hassan Salih said Monday.

Addressing members of the parliament, Salih said that Sudan had no other alternative but to press ahead with austerity measures adopted in early 2018.

“We have no choice but to maintain the policy of economic liberalization; we must implement economic reform and restructure our economy,” he said. “We deeply feel the suffering of our people — we see the long lines for gasoline — but we’re working hard to resolve the problem,” Salih asserted.

Sudan has suffered an acute shortage of fuel products since the beginning of April. The prime minister went on to point out that the country’s trade deficit had widened in 2017. He also noted, however, that GDP had increased over the same period.

“The trade deficit reached $2.7 billion in the second half of 2017 — from $2.3 billion in 2016 — but at the same time GDP has increased from 5.2 to 5.7 percent,” Salih said. Sudan has recently seen a sharp spike in inflation that has led to sporadic anti-austerity protests.

The government adopted a raft of tough austerity measures in its 2018 budget, including the lifting of subsidies on bread and electricity and some other essential.