Sudanese pound retreats after temporary stability

By XINHUA

In this July 24, 2011, file photo, Sudan’s new currency sits behind a window at the central bank in Khartoum, Sudan. The country took the unprecedented but expected step of floating its currency Sunday, Feb. 21, 2021, meeting a major demand by international financial insinuations to help transitional authorities overhaul the battered economy. (AP Photo/Abd Raouf, File)

Sudan’s national currency, the Sudanese pound, has depreciated after nearly two months of stability as the official authorities promised urgent intervention.

On Sunday, the exchange rate was 392 Sudanese pounds to one U.S. dollar in the parallel market. The currency had maintained its price within the range of 380 pounds per U.S. dollar since the Sudanese government implemented the unification of its exchange rate on Feb. 21.

The depreciation, according to dealers in the foreign exchange market in the capital Khartoum has been attributed to increased demand and scarce supply of the U.S. dollar and is expected to further decline during the coming days.

Meanwhile, the Central Bank of Sudan has promised urgent intervention to address the decline in the national currency.

“The bank has enough reserves of foreign currencies to meet the requirements of urgent strategic commodities within the framework of the exchange rate managing policy,” Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Sudan, Mohamed Ahmed Bushra, said in a statement.

“The central bank will adopt a new policy that guarantees its intervention in the foreign exchange market through the provision of foreign currency resources for commercial banks to meet the strategic commodities in the market and cover the deficit in foreign currencies,” he added.

The continued decline of the Sudanese pound against foreign currencies negatively reflects on the prices of necessary commodities which escalate the suffering of the citizens.

According to a recent report of Sudan’s Central Statistics Bureau, the inflation rate in Sudan shot up to about 341 percent in March.

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