Khartoum-Juba cooperation agreements will impact inflation rate, says Sudanese official
March 31, 2013 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese State’s Minister of Finance Abdul-Rahman Dirar projected that the implementation of cooperation agreements signed with the neighboring state of South Sudan will lead to an adjustment in inflation rates.
In September of last year, the two ex-foes signed a series of cooperation agreements which covered oil, citizenship rights, security issues, banking, and border trade among others.
After several months of an apparent setback, the two countries signed an implementation matrix this month for these cooperation agreements.
The most notable provision in the agreement is related to resumption of oil exports by landlocked South Sudan which were suspended more than a year ago because of a dispute over transit fees.
The economies of the two countries took a direct hit from the oil export suspension leading to sharp increase in inflation rates and prices of basic commodities as they are reliant on crude remits and pipeline fees to pay for food imports.
The minister who addressed the closing session of the workshop on “Technical Economic Terms in the Budget” organized jointly by the national assembly and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) yesterday at the Grand Holiday Villa hotel, underscored the importance of enhancing transparency and good governance, pointing out that budget tasks in modern economic thought include control of money supply, savings, expenditure as well as achieving political, social and economic goals.
He acknowledged however, “misuse and waste” of money in the budget saying it does not amount to financial corruption.
Dirar revealed that technical and legal measures to cancel Sudan’s foreign debt are nearing completion, pointing out that Sudan enjoys good relations with international monetary institutions, particularly the International Monetary Fund (IMF), stressing commitment to pay Sudan’s financial contributions to international monetary institutions.
The chairman of the parliamentary Financial and Economic Committee, Omer Ali, on his part, criticized poor internal control and called upon the Ministry of Finance to codify the role of internal audit by amending its law and removing discrepancies with the constitution, stressing the importance of accountability to force executives to abide by financial rules and regulations.
This month Sudanese officials suggested that they will move to amend the 2013 budget to reflect the accords signed with Juba.
The national assembly approved the 2013 budget last year which projects 25.2 billion Sudanese pounds (SDG) in revenues and 35.0 billion SDG in expenses leaving a deficit of 10 billion SDG ($1.5 billion) which equals 3.4% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
(ST)