In an Interview with (Sudan Events)… Dr. Al-Mahl Refutes the Reasons for the dollar’s Rise and Proposes Urgent Solutions

 Interview: Rehab Abdullah

The Dean of the Faculty of Economics at the University of Sudan, the economic expert, Dr. Abdul-Azim Al-Mahl, considered the significant rise in the price of the dollar illogical and justified this in terms of the decrease in the volume of imports due to the movement of more than eleven million people, some of whom were outside Sudan and some of whom were internally displaced, and they represent 80% of the mass consuming imported goods.  However, the deadline held the militia war responsible for the rise in the price of the dollar due to the Sudanese government’s necessity to import weapons, which put pressure on the dollar, in addition to the militia’s request to import and recruit more individuals from abroad, and to convert the money that was looted from banks, institutions, companies, and individuals into dollars.

Al-Mahl suggested forming a crisis cell from a number of academic economists and practitioners inside and outside Sudan, whose mission is to develop the necessary plans, programmes, policies and procedures to solve the problem without interference from the government or the Ministry of Finance. More details in his following statements:

How do you view the continued decline in the value of the Sudanese pound?

Yes…the price of the Sudanese pound has deteriorated significantly, although I see it as illogical during the last period in terms of the fact that the dollar is demanded to import goods from abroad, which witnessed a decline after the import of goods decreased significantly due to the movement of more than eleven million people, some of them outside Sudan, some of them were internally displaced… and they represent  80% of the mass consuming imported goods. Also, the largest component of imports in the last period are weapons and various military equipment. In this case, the government is the first accused of the rise in the price of the dollar and it is the largest buyer of the dollar on the black market. It also demands the dollar is a form of rapid support for several reasons: the first is purchasing weapons from abroad, the second is importing and recruiting more individuals from abroad, the third is converting the money that was looted from banks, institutions, companies and individuals into dollars, the fourth is importing some goods from neighboring countries, and the fifth is giving some of their employees their salaries in dollars.  ..

All of these people do not care if they buy the dollar at any price.

What’s the solution?

The first step to the solution is for the government to acknowledge the problem and its disastrous effects on the Sudanese citizen, and then form a crisis cell of a number of academic economists and practitioners inside and outside Sudan whose mission is to develop the necessary plans, programmes, policies and procedures to solve the problem without interference from the government or the Ministry of Finance.

In your opinion, what is the most important decision that can be made?

I think that the most important decision for this cell is that the one thousand and five hundred pound notes are not cleared, and the bearer does not have the right to buy any goods or services with them, but only converts them into the new currency, and this will lead to…

Preventing those who plundered banks, companies, and individuals from enjoying their loot.

Limiting funds, providing a source of financing, preventing speculation in the dollar,

Smuggling money abroad.

Reducing the price of the dollar and other hard currencies. It is also necessary to rationalize government spending according to priorities and prevent the distribution of gifts and grants during this period.

Also, in light of the war and the absence of a parliament, no prime minister, or any kind of oversight…the Sudanese economy must be entrusted to a crisis cell and not one person decides what he wants without consulting others, let alone

Searching for other means of financing from inside and outside the country using innovative methods that will lead to the flow of dollars into Sudan, and accelerating the liberation of Gezira State, as it is the heart of Sudan’s economy. The price of the pound deteriorated further after the fall of Gezira, thus collapsing the backbone of the national economy.

I see that the privatized institutions will return to the embrace of the government and thus monopolize exports because the companies failed to supply any dollars to the banking system, which are:

Sudanese Mining Corporation

Petroleum Corporation

Oilseeds Corporation

Livestock Foundation

Cotton Foundation

Gum Arabic Foundation

And others.

The revenues of these institutions, if returned to the Bank of Sudan, cover the basic needs of imports to Sudan…but the companies have not and will not supply a single dollar into the banking system.

…Certainly the most important thing to stop the deterioration of the price of the pound is to stop the war…and attract funds for reconstruction.

To what extent can Sudan attract investments at the present time and resume its activity?

The most important element in attracting foreign investment is a strong security grip

And political stability. Before attracting foreign investments, we must return Sudanese investments abroad. We have between 20 and 30 billion dollars Sudanese investments in the real estate sector alone in Egypt and another in the Emirates, Oman, Ethiopia and Saudi Arabia.

Can Sudan obtain loans and grants?

At this time, it is very difficult to obtain loans, because the conditions will be bad, but after the end of the war it can be done, provided that we rely on financing through the BOT.

How can reconstruction be possible?

It is necessary to prepare from now for the reconstruction phase, prepare plans, programs, policies, and studies of war losses in numbers and in Arabic and English, and sign agreements with countries that can attract support for reconstruction and contribute to it.