Sudan needs $8 billion in foreign aid over the next two years to cover its import bill and help rebuild its struggling economy following months of political turmoil, its new Prime Minister, Abdalla Hamdok, said on Saturday.
Hamdok, sworn in three days earlier to head a transitional government after the ousting of veteran leader Omar al-Bashir, says up to another $2 billion of foreign reserves deposits are needed in the next three months to halt a fall in the currency.
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Hamden, who has worked for the U.N. Economic Commission for Africa, said he had started talks with the IMF and the World Bank to discuss restructuring Sudan’s crippling debt and had approached friendly countries and funding bodies about the aid.
Mounting public anger over shortages of food, fuel and hard currency triggered mass demonstrations that eventually forced Bashir from power in April.
On the politically tricky topic of government subsidies for bread, fuel, electricity and medicine, Hamdok says any changes will only be made after “deep discussions” with the people.
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He also said he had been talking with the United States to remove Sudan from its list of state sponsors of terrorism – a designation which has left Khartoum isolated from most of the international financial system since 1993.
There was no immediate comment from the U.S. government, the IMF or the World Bank.
Sudan has been in economic turmoil since it lost the bulk of its oil production in 2011 when South Sudan seceded after decades of civil war.
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It has devalued the pound several times but not been able to halt the fall. One dollar currently fetches £65 on the black market versus the official rate of £45.