International Expert: Bank of Sudan’s Recent Decisions… : “Administrative Aspirin to Treat Stage 4 Cancer”
Sudan Events – Rehab Abdullah
The former Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance, the international expert, Dr. Al-Tijani Al-Tayeb Ibrahim, has described the recent policies of the Bank of Sudan regarding reducing the value of daily cash withdrawals and daily withdrawals through automated teller machines, and raising the ceiling of daily transfers through banking applications, as merely “administrative aspirin” to treat stage 4 cancer .
He denounced why, for example, the Bank of Sudan does not allow receiving transfers in dollars as an option instead of the local currency, instead of these administrative procedures that have proven to fail, and justified this to ensure the flow of foreign exchange movement through official channels instead of the channels of the parallel market and the clients of this market in the banking system, and he presented the matter as a proposal to officials to implement it.
This came in a written statement on his Facebook page under the title (The collapse of the national currency and a return to futile government policies).
Dr. Al-Tijani said: In June 2021, the Sudanese government announced the unification of official exchange rates into a single rate equal to 360 pounds per US dollar, which moves with the movement of average parallel market prices. This price remained in line with the movement of parallel market prices, reaching about 570 pounds/dollar at the beginning of the war between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces in April 2023. Unfortunately, economic decision-makers then took a step, and the parallel market gradually gained almost complete control over the foreign exchange markets. In May 2024, the exchange rate of the national currency in the parallel market reached 1,800 pounds/dollar for purchase, compared to purchase prices (pounds/dollar) of 1,260 (Omdurman National Bank), 1,255 (Bank of Khartoum), 1,180 (Faisal Islamic Bank), and 1,148, (Western Union Exchange in Omdurman), according to a personal transfer receipt.
The shocking numbers above indicate the huge difference between the parallel market purchase price and the highest bank purchase price (Bank of Khartoum), and the huge difference between the parallel market purchase price and the selling price of 2000 pounds per dollar!! However, the purchase price remains the key to foreign exchange transfers, most of which are expected to flow through the parallel market channels and the corrupt in the banking system, away from the official channels.
