Friends of Sudan will finance Sudan’s 2020 Budget: minister
October 31, 2019 (KHARTOUM) – Sudan’s Finance Minister Ibrahim al-Badawi announced an agreement reached with the Friends of Sudan to finance its 2020 budget through 20 projects they approved.
On 21 October, Friends of Sudan group met in Washington to discuss ways to support the transitional government which has inherited a ruined economy and war-ravaged country.
In a press conference held on Thursday, al-Badawi told reporters that the Washington meeting adopted a programme to rehabilitate macroeconomic sanity and the banking system in Sudan. Also, the plan aims at preparing economic transition in Sudan.
In line with this programme, Sudan will not pay any arrears or repay debts but will engage in negotiations on the debt relief with the World Bank and the African Development Bank starting from next March 2020, he said.
“The 2020 budget will be financed by the Friends of Sudan,” he further said, stressing that it would be based on the Sustainable Development Goals, with special focus on education, health and social services”.
In addition, the budget will be based on macroeconomic stabilization, reliance on available resources and strengthening of monetary and exchange rate policy as a prerequisite for competition, especially for national exports, he said.
The Friends of Sudan will meet next December in Khartoum to discuss and coordinate plans to support his country. While a Sudan’s donor conference which would be held outside Sudan is scheduled for April 2020.
The issue of debt, which is now between $50-60bn, has been a thorn in the side of Sudan policymakers for decades but the burden has since grown to alarming levels as a percentage of the country’s GDP.
(ST)