Sudan received half of Saudi-UAE grant: minister
October 8, 2019 (KHARTOUM) – Sudan has received half of the $ 3 billion in aid pledged by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in April, said Finance Minister Ibrahim al-Badawi on Tuesday.
Shortly after the ouster of the former President, the two oil-rich Gulf states vowed to deposit $500 million into the Sudanese central bank and the remaining $2.5 billion will be used to provide food, medicine and petroleum products.
Speaking to Reuters from Abu Dhabi on Monday night, al-Badawi said that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates injected $ 500 million in the Central Bank of Sudan, and “received $ 1 billion worth of petroleum products, wheat and products used by the agricultural sector”.
The Sudanese minister was in Abu Dhabi with the Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok and the head of Sovereign Council Abdal Fattah al-Burhan who held meetings with UAE officials.
He further said that his country will continue to receive the remaining half of the joint grant until the end of the next year.
“I met with the ambassadors of the kingdom and of the UAE, and we agreed on a programmed schedule that will, God willing, take us to the end of 2020, to finish off the rest of the grant,” al-Badawi said.
Despite the political change in the country, the economic situation remains the same as the long queues for bread and fuel have become part of daily life.
The Friends of Sudan will hold a meeting soon to discuss ways to support Hamdok’s government which faces huge economic problems.
In a statement to Sudan Tribune last week, Tibor Nagy said the meeting will be held on the sidelines of the World Bank annual meeting between from 14 to 20 October.
“We will get together and will discuss who can do what to help Sudan succeed,” Nagy said.
(ST)