June 16, 2020 (KHARTOUM) - Sudan has authorized gold companies and producers to export gold directly without going through the Bank of Sudan, in an attempt to curb the smuggling of precious metal abroad.

Gold bullion blocks pictured at a gold refinery in Khartoum on 11 October 2012 (SUNA)

The decision to freely export gold was announced after a meeting of the Higher Committee for Economic Emergencies on Tuesday evening, chaired by the deputy chairman of the Sovereign Council, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, and co-chair and Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok.

The Deputy Governor of the Bank of Sudan, who announced the decision, said that the new regulations allow gold’s exportation by any company or legal person after fulfilling export control regulations and procedures.

Mohamed Ahmed al-Bushra added that according to the new regime, the gold exporting companies pay in kind taxes and state percentages.

Tax payment in kind will allow Sudan, Africa’s third-biggest gold producer, to constitute a national reserve at the central bank.

Under the former regulations, the central bank bought gold at a price lower than the international market price. As a result, 70 to 80% of the good’s production was smuggled abroad, depriving the government of taxes income.

The central bank will no longer interfere in the gold exportation process even the gold price in the local market is aligned to the international market.

Sudan’s gold production is estimated at 93 tons in 2018, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, which places it after South Africa and Ghana, the first and second gold producers in Africa.

(ST)