Forex bureaus in Sudan hike exchange rate to curb black market
June 11, 2012 (KHARTOUM) – Forex Bureaus in Sudan on Monday started using higher exchange rates for the US dollar in a bid to match its value in the black market and prevent further depreciation of the local currency.
Last month the Central Bank of Sudan (CBS) made a bold effort to curb the thriving black market by allowing Forex bureaus to buy and sell currencies using their own exchange rates as opposed to the official one.
The effort is hoped to bridge the huge gap between the official exchange rate and that used in the black market, where the US dollar continues to trade for twice the official rate of 2.7 Sudanese pounds despite multiple interventions by the central bank to inject hard currency.
Last week the Sudanese pound hit an all-time low of 5.55 in the black market as the central bank failed to supply Forex bureaus with enough hard currency to meet demands.
The secretary-general of the Forex Bureaus Union (FBU), Abdel Al-Moniem Nur Al-Deen, on Monday said that Forex bureaus had decided to hike their exchange rate to 5.53 pounds in the hope of greater proximity to the black market rate.
Nur Al-Deen justified their decision by saying that they had realized that the daily fixed quota of 3,500 USD allocated to Forex Bureaus by the central bank had been leaking to the black market through some traders who present fake travel documents in order to get dollars at the official rate then sell them back in the black market.
The FBU previously announced that some citizens applying for hard currency on travelling justifications have had their requests turned down after it was discovered that they were put up to it by black market traders who buy their dollars to sell them later at a higher rate.
Sudan has been struggling to contain the deteriorating value of its own currency as the flow of hard currency was sharply curtailed following the secession of the oil-rich South Sudan last year.
(ST)