Emergency budget.. Revenue and expense scenarios

Sudan Events – Report – Rehab Abdullah

Within the remaining few days of 2023, the Sudanese government is expected to approve an emergency budget for the fiscal 2024.
Last week, Finance Minister Jibril Ibrahim held a meeting in which the general features, objectives and guidelines of the emergency budget were reviewed including all sectors to be based on the development of estimates, assumptions and policies of the new emergency budget.

Budget Amendment

The most prominent emergency budget directives received from the Federal Ministry of Finance stipulated that the budget is not conventional and focuses on mobilizing self-resources, that it is a flexible budget adjusted every three months, and that it was classified according to specific priorities.
Sudan Events was the first to report the government adopting an emergency budget, and revealed consultations conducted by the government, according to its federal institutions, which are operating from the city of Port Sudan, to prepare an emergency budget for a specific period of time.

Change Route

The Dean of the Faculty of Economics at Sudan University, Dr. Abdul Azim Al-Mahal, said that the 2024 is a budget that cannot be based on the 2023 budget, arguing that it has been disrupted since mid-April due to the war between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Militia.
Al-Mahal was of the view that this budget must include in the first semester the salaries of workers and the months of January, February, March, should be included assuming the war continues, while the rest of the months are without war, and the second chapter is done in the same way, that is directing the spending on emergencies only without any spending on ministries, and he also believed that the budget will then be after three months changing course and focus on industry, agriculture, health, education and services,
“The budget for capitalism and development must be ambitious,” he said, stressing the importance of allocating a large amount for the reconstruction of public and private institutions.

Budget revenues

Mahal has predicted that the budget would consist of two options: one based on self-reliance resources and the other on external support.
He said the current war has indicated that the Sudanese people have huge resources which he considered, an opportunity to test them by allocating the private sector a bigger role to play in the rehabilitation process. He added that the war is considered a turning point for a fresh start, underlining, however that the current emergency budget should be clearly marking accountability and war against corruption.
First emergency budget of its kind
The economic expert Dr Haitham Fatahi said this budget, upon its approval, will be the first emergency budget of its king in the history of the nation.
He described what was going on as an achievement for a government to make, that it has been able to ensure the smooth ongoing of the various institutions within the state, whatever be the observations people might have on the budget and the figures and the nature of the resources.
He added that this balance is to be commended and that he considered this process a success, despite the collapse of some government revenue establishments, and the dissolution of some departments, because of the crisis financial and economic situation, and at the same time the failure of many a political force to shoulder their responsibilities in the salvage process that should have taken place.