Sudan’s new Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok on Saturday said the country needs $8 billion in foreign aid over the next two years to cover its import bill and help rebuild its ravaged economy after months of political turmoil, reported Reuters.
Sworn in last week on the same day as the new Sovereign Council, Mr. Hamdok said up to another $2 billion of foreign reserves deposits were needed in the next three months to halt a fall in the currency. This is the first time that Sudan has got a civilian prime minister since 1989, the year Omar Al-Bashir deposed Sadiq Al-Mahdi. Months of mass protests, initially against over shortages of food, fuel, and hard currency, led to the downfall of long-serving President Al-Bashir in April.
The 61-year-old Hamdok, an economist previously on the UN Economic Commission for Africa panel, said he had started talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank to discuss plans for the restructuring of Sudan’s crippling debt and had approached friendly nations and funding bodies about the aid.
“We are in communication to achieve this,” Hamdok said in his first interview with a foreign media outlet. “The foreign reserves in the central bank are weak and very low.”
However, he said there won’t be a forced prescription from the IMF or the World Bank on Sudan.
As far as government subsidies on bread, fuel, electricity, and medicine are concerned, Hamdok said any changes would only be made after deep discussions with the people.
“The people are the ones who will make the decision on this issue,” he said.
He also said he had been talking with the United States to remove Sudan from its list of state sponsors of terrorism, a designation that has left the country isolated from the international arena since 1993.
