Increase in Customs dollar, Criticized

Sudan Events – Rehab Abdullah

The former Secretary-General of Chambers of Commerce Union, Al-Sadiq Jalal Al-Amin, has launched a violent critique on the decision to increase the customs dollar to 950 pounds, and called on the Sovereign Council to intervene urgently, cancel the decision, and remove the hand of the Minister of Finance from harming the Sudanese people.
Al-Sadiq considered that the decision is a “destructive economic war” imposed on the Sudanese people, especially in light of the recession that the Sudanese market is witnessing, due to the weak purchasing power of the citizen.
Al-Sadiq said, in press statements Wednesday, that an increase in the customs dollar to 950 pounds will, unfortunately, be “disastrous for the helpless citizen who suffers from the scourge of war,” explaining that the increase works to restrict the citizen’s livelihood and even impoverish him, and he stated that the decision has no mercy, no vision, and there is no benefit from it except ruin.” He added: In June 2021, the current Minister of Finance moved the customs dollar from 28 pounds to 370 pounds, citing that it is one of the requirements of economic reform and works to stabilize the exchange rate and increase revenues, and we made it clear and demonstrated with numbers at that time, that the step would only reap a mirage and the opposite of what he seeks, and unfortunately we have been reaping his bad decision since its issuance.
Al-Sadiq confirmed that the strange thing is that he adjusted the customs dollar five times from 370 to 445 to 564 to 650, and the last amendment was 950 pounds, and he continued that this is something that no one has ever done before, and these are extremely bad historical amendments).
Al-Sadiq stressed that the policy of persisting in failure and loss is as if it is a systematic work being done to destroy the Sudanese economy, which is an economy greatly affected by the war, indicating that the economic mismanagement that befell it during the war had a greater impact and harmed it a lot, pointing out that it is a failed economic management. It relies on moodiness, corruption, and nepotism, and decisions issued are never in the public interest.
Al-Sadiq indicated that the decision is intended to increase revenues, but all previous similar experiences have led to the opposite, and the timing of the decision is completely wrong in light of the cessation of local production, which inevitably leads to the cessation of imports already affected by the recession, and imported goods are now sold for less than their cost, which reflects negatively on the supply of goods and creates a state of scarcity that leads to prices rising to unprecedented numbers in the country.