Optimism prevails in Sudan following rise in world oilprices
Optimism has prevailed the economic circles in Sudan following a significant rise in the international oil prices, and the possibility that this rise would positively reflect on the revenues of the country's general budget for 2010.
"The rise in the oil prices at international level will positively reflect on the revenues of the oil budget, which sets the barrel price at about 50 U.S. dollars," Mohamed al-Nayer, a Sudanese economic expert, told Xinhua.
Al-Nayer added that the difference between the price projected in the country's general budget and the international price would go to "the concentrated account," a special account of the Sudanese central government. This would retrieve the country's reserve of hard currency which in turn would stabilize the national currency.
He expected that the rise in the oil prices would continue and the barrel price could possibly reach 75 to 90 U.S. dollars. However, Al-Nayer admitted that the oil prices could hardly exceed this rate unless unnatural matters happen. "There are indicators which show that the Sudanese economy will be greatly improved as the rise in the oil prices has increased Sudan's revenues of hard currency, which will enable the central bank to build hard currency reserves," al-Nayer said.
Mohamed Ibrahim al-Khalifa, an economic analyst, stressed the importance of benefiting from past experiences and studying the reasons which had crippled the progress of the country's economy and its commercial movement, particularly with regard to the foreign exchange policy and the national exchange price against foreign exchange prices to attract foreign investments.
"There is a need to surpass the disadvantages of previous budgets with the focus on attracting foreign investments, besides setting up a flexible budget which takes into account all possible transformations," al-Khalifa told Xinhua. "There is a need to set up economic policies capable of developing the resources of foreign currencies, encouraging non-oil exports, namely the industrial and agricultural ones, rationing the imports and reducing the government expenditure," he added.
The governor of the Sudanese central bank, Sabir Mohamed al-Hassan, has earlier declared that the Sudanese banking system would not be affected by the international financial and monetary crisis. Meanwhile, Sudanese Minister of Finance, Awad Ahmed al-Jaz has announced the directives of the general budget for 2010, saying that the directives would increase the supply and focus on the productive sectors, particularly the agricultural, industrial and service fields.
Al-Jaz pointed out that the general features of the budget would be achieving justice, distributing the wealth and increasing productivity.
He said the budget would also continue to preserve the economic stability, adding that the budget mainly tends to mobilize the local and external resources with the focus on non-oil revenues.
However, the country's 2009 budget encountered what some economic experts described as "partial paralysis," particularly regarding the hard currency reserves, lack of liquidity in the markets and the drop in the price of the national currency against foreign currencies.
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