KHARTOUM, Oct 28 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Sudan announced a doubling of fuel prices on Tuesday, adding to hardships in a country faced with record-breaking inflation.
“The government is increasing fuel prices,” Khairi Abdel Rahman, the deputy energy minister, told a news conference in Khartoum, announcing cuts in state subsidies with immediate effect.
He said the price of a litre of diesel was going go up from 23 Sudanese pounds ($0.41) to 46 pounds, and oil from 28 pounds to 56 pounds.
According to its statistics office, inflation in Sudan soared last month to a record 212 percent.
The local currency is in free fall in the import-dependent country, trading at between 240 and 250 pounds to the dollar.
That compares to 50 pounds when a transitional government took over following the April 2019 fall of autocrat Omar al-Bashir.
The UN said in September that food prices in Sudan had tripled over the past year, while the cost of health services had increased by 90 percent.
Sudan, in the midst of a fragile political transition, is counting on foreign investment following its lifting last week from a US list of alleged state sponsors of terrorism.
An announcement in December 2018 of a tripling of food prices sparked mass street protests that led to Bashir’s ouster four months later. — NNN-AGENCIES