The Sudanese pound goes up, and the “Sariha” turn to other professions

Sudanese banks have shifted the large exchange rate difference of the pound in their favor of 9 pounds compared to the parallel market, which until about 3 weeks ago bought the dollar with a difference of 60 pounds on the official market .

One of the “Sariha” interviewed by Sky News Arabia in the Arab market area in central Khartoum revealed an estimated 80 percent drop in their daily trading volume; He pointed out that many traders have resorted to other activities such as auto and real estate brokerage, and some have even started to engage in simple fringe activities such as selling vegetables and fruits.

Al-Sareeh told Sky News Arabia that he and other traders are waiting for banks to end working hours at 3 p.m. to track down those wishing to trade, most of whom are holders of very small amounts. .

In the same context, another trader said that a few Sareeha are still holding their positions in the hope that the market will rebound after the Eid al-Adha holiday which begins on Sunday. He explained that security campaigns which escalated over the past week and led to significant confiscations and arrests among senior traders have significantly affected daily commerce.

a clear improvement

At the end of Tuesday’s trading, the pound increased its gains to around 10% in three weeks; Where the price of the dollar fell from 490 pounds to around 440 pounds in parallel market transactions in three weeks; In contrast, banks raised the official price to 449 pounds to the dollar, from 432 pounds at the end of last month.

Muhammad Sheikhoun, professor of economics at Sudanese universities, attributes the current improvement in the Sudanese pound exchange rate to seasonal and security reasons. Cheikhoun points out that the increase in the price of the pound over the past week is due to the increase in the volume of supply due to the holidays of foreigners, which has prompted the banks to adopt a policy of increasing the price for encourage remittances, which increased the competitive capacity of the parallel market and therefore the transfer price difference decreased, which became more in favor of the market. In addition to the security campaigns which resulted in the arrest of a number of currency traffickers inside.

Sheikhoun depends on the sustainability of the stability of exchange rates from the need to implement a number of economic measures. He told Sky News Arabia that it was important to implement the policy of controlling the trade in gold previously announced by the Council of Ministers and controlling basic exports by activating a government mechanism capable of controlling income. who have experienced a major leak in the past. years, and caused a shortage of hard currency reserves of the Central Bank.

Sheikhoun also called on the government to accelerate the measures necessary to absorb the leaking money supply outside the banking sector, estimated at 90 trillion pounds, or more than 90 percent of the country’s total money supply.

sudden movement

And in a surprising movement; On February 21, the Sudanese government announced; Unification and liberalization of the Sudanese pound exchange rate to stop further fluctuations in exchange rates. At that time, the Central Bank reduced the pound by 700%, setting a target price of 375 pounds, against 55 pounds before the float.

The move was aimed at eliminating the distortions and imbalances plaguing the troubled and crisis-ridden Sudanese economy, given debts amounting to over $ 60 billion and inflation over 360%.

This approach, which is part of a package of economic reforms, has improved Sudan’s relations with international financial institutions, allowing it to benefit from the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative and ” obtain new financing estimated at more than 4 billion dollars during the past weeks.