U.S. dollar price continues to rise against Sudanese pound
July 3, 2017 (KHARTOUM) – The price of the US dollar has increased in the black market in Khartoum on Friday, settling at 18.95 Sudanese pounds (SDG).
However, they expected the dollar price to drop if Washington next week decides to remove the financial and trade sanctions imposed on Sudan permanently.
Last January, dollar price pulled back from 19.4 to 17.0 SDG on the black market following the U.S. decision to ease the economic sanctions but it soon rose again.
Meanwhile, the director of Foreign Exchange Department at the Central Bank of Sudan (CBoS) Nur al-Din Mohamed Sulieman said they continue to provide Forex at the official rate for purposes of tourism and medical treatment abroad.
He told the official news agency SUNA on Monday that the CBoS hasn’t stopped Forex supply for these purposes, saying the funds are provided through various banks including the Al Tadamon Islamic Bank, Animal Wealth Bank and the Sudanese-French Bank.
In its latest consultation report on Sudan last October, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said the East African nation’s already low foreign exchange reserves dropped to 1½ month of imports.
The Sudanese pound has lost 100% of its value since South Sudan’s secession in 2011, pushing inflation rates to record levels given that the East African nation imports most of its food.
Last November, the CBoS introduced an incentive policy, increasing the exchange rate in commercial banks by 131%. As a result, the U.S. dollar exchange rate went up in banks to 15.8 SDG from the official rate of 6.5 SDG.
However, this measure didn’t halt the rise of the dollar against the pound in the black market.
(ST)