Bashir to address nation on fuel subsidies as NCP falters at cuts in government size

June 12, 2012 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese president Omer Al-Bashir is due to deliver a speech to address public concerns regarding his government’s plans to end fuel subsidies.

The Sudanese government is preparing to lift fuel subsidies as part of what officials say are drastic austerity measures required to salvage the economy which has been facing soaring inflation and a depreciating currency since losing three quarters of its oil lifeblood with the secession of South Sudan in July last year.

According to a report published by the subtly pro-government daily, Al-Ray al-Amm, on Tuesday, Al-Bashir will address Sudanese people “in the coming hours” about the plan to lift fuel subsidies as well as other economic reforms the government intends to implement.

The paper quoted anonymous sources as saying that the president’s speech would also reveal a new structure of the government plus resolutions to halve perquisites of state officials.

According to the paper’s sources, state officials including top parliamentarians would have one of their state-owned cars taken back, their fuel quotas suspended and travel discounts repealed.

Meanwhile, the government appeared to have a change of heart regarding plans to reduce its size by 30 percent.

In an interview published on Tuesday by Africa Today magazine, presidential adviser Mustafa Osman Ismail said that a report by the minister of finance showed that cutting the size of the cabinet nationwide is going to bring little revenues.

“We have confirmed that reducing the cabinet by 30 percent at federal and state levels will not generate more than 5 million [Sudanese] pounds monthly”

In a related context, a senior official has admitted that previous government policies are responsible for the current economic situation.

The head of the ruling National Congress Party’s (NCP) economic department and former governor of Sudan’s Central Bank, Sabir Mohammed Al-Hassan, said during a symposium held in the capital Khartoum on Tuesday that the government had failed to use oil revenues to diversify the economy.

“If we worked to correct our policies from the onset, we would not have ended up in this situation. We kept delaying reforms using the same reasons some people are now using” he said in reference to the fact that some individuals within the NCP are opposed to lifting of fuel subsidies.

Al-Hassan said that the economy was facing several crises, including but not limited to increases in commodity prices, prevalent unemployment and rising inflation.

The NCP official underscored the need to defuse the crisis before it gets out of hand, acknowledging that both the government and ordinary citizens will be affected in due course.

“Any curing of diseases will affect the state and the citizen”

(ST)