The prices of foreign currencies rose against the Sudanese Pound in the parallel market yesterday, as Kheiri Abdelrahman, the Minister of Energy and Mining, warned of the side effects of continued deterioration of the Sudanese Pound against the Dollar due to the policy of lifting fuel subsidies that was introduced about a month ago.

The US Dollar was sold for SDG 267, as the selling price of the Euro reached SDG 315, the Saudi Riyal SDG 71 and the Emirati Dirham SDG 72.

Traders in the parallel market said the rise was as a result of the increase in demand for foreign currencies in exchange for the scarcity of supply, in addition to the recent increase in the volume of speculation in hard currencies.

In a press statement on Thursday, Abdelrahman disclosed that the rise in foreign currency rates must be considered as a serious threat to the policy of rationalising fuel subsidies.

He further warned that the Khartoum Refinery will pause for maintenance at the beginning of December, explaining that all arrangements have been made with private sector companies to import fuel to cover the demand of the local market.

Experts and researchers in the field of economics have recently renewed their criticism of the current policies adopted by the transitional government to address the economic deterioration in the country, and demand the government be transparent and conduct structural reforms in the Sudanese economy.

At a seminar in Khartoum this week to discuss possible solutions to revive the Sudanese economy by arresting the collapse of the Sudanese pound and the continuing high inflation rates, independent economist Hafiz Ismail said that the Sudanese economy needs to show transparency in budgets and their sources, and an evaluation of the government's economic performance.

* USD 1 = SDG 55.1375 at the time of posting, according to the daily middle US Dollar rate quoted by the CBoS. However, effective foreign exchange rates can vary widely on Sudan's parallel market.