Most-At-Need Sudanese to Get Direct Cash Payments from Government

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Obiajulu Joel Nwolu

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Citizens of Sudan are set to receive direct cash transfers  from next week as part of experimental programme as the country attempts to ease off expensive subsidies.

Sudan’s capital Khartoum has been striving to revive its faltering economy. This latest attempt is aimed at improving the lot of the city and the country at large. Sudan has faced an inflation rate of almost 100% and the currency facing a free fall. The government has had to print money to subsidise basic necessities like bread, fuel and electricity.

The country has a foreign debts rate of about $62 billion. Last week, its government started talks that could usher international finance support by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) through a non-funded programme.

Under first phase of the new pilot cash payment programme, the government will transfer 500 Sudanese pounds (about $9) per person per month, beginning in Khartoum’s West Soba district, quickly followed by four other areas in the country, the finance ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

“These areas were carefully chosen to assess the appropriateness of the project’s mechanisms, plans and interventions” before being extended to the rest of the country, it said.

The programme is being funded by the Sudanese government and international organisations, the statement said.

Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok promised two weeks ago that the government would sustain subsidies on bread or electricity, but instead would focus on reducing them on petrol and diesel.

Source: CGTN Africa