The Central Bank of Sudan completely liberalizes the exchange rate

Khartoum, March 7 (.).- The Central Bank of Sudan announced on Monday the total liberalization of the exchange rate of the Sudanese pound against foreign currencies by leaving it completely in the hands of banks and exchange houses.

The issuing entity indicated in a statement that as of this Tuesday “it dispenses with the responsibility of determining the exchange rate so that banks and foreign exchange companies determine and announce the sale and purchase prices of currencies without the intervention of the Central Bank in This process”.

Sudan, which has been governed by the military since last October after a coup d’état, thus completes a process that began in February last year when it partially floated the national currency to try to gain the confidence of international financial organizations to alleviate the enormous country’s external debt.

He then established a managed flexible exchange rate system, in which the exchange houses determined each day together with the Central Bank the exchange rate of the Sudanese pound according to supply and demand.

This measure, affirmed the Central Bank in its statement, occurs within the framework of a series of “comprehensive and sustainable monetary reform policies that will be issued consecutively in order to give stability to the exchange rate.”

This decision comes after a significant drop in the exchange rate of the Sudanese pound, which this Monday was quoted at 575 pounds per dollar compared to 540 last weekend.

Just over a year ago, when it was decided to partially liberalize the exchange rate, the dollar was officially pegged at about 55 Sudanese pounds, while on the black market it was then sold for between 350 and 400 pounds.

Sudan has been going through a chronic economic crisis for years with soaring inflation and shortages of basic necessities that sparked a series of street protests in 2018 that brought down dictator Omar al Bashir to start a transition process.

The transitory government, which until the October uprising was shared by military and civilians, imposed a series of economic reforms demanded by the international financial institutions, such as the elimination of certain subsidies, but it was unable to stop the crisis.

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