Economic liberalization and the rampant poverty

"Sustainable development requires states to be legitimate in the eyes of their citizens and to deliver the core functions of the state"

President of the European Commission, José Barroso

The policy of economic liberalization pursued by the government is considered as one of the main causes of the current rampant poverty in the country.

Despite the fact that there are many economy experts criticize applying of this policy in Sudan because of its negative impact on the normal citizens, yet the government insists on saying and repeating from time to time contrary and illogical statements that it is the proper and successful policy to the country's economic situation and that the current inflation is because of the global economic crisis, while at the same time it does not give indications for the real size of the inflation.

In fact, the policy of economic liberalization has played a great role in increasing the poverty and unemployment rates in the country, whereas the latest surveys carried out on Sudan showed significantly increasing rates for poverty and unemployment.

The neglect of agriculture also has contributed negatively in the current economic crisis. Whereas the structure of the Sudanese economy has shifted over time, from predominantly reliance on agriculture for growth and exports, to its last reliance on the oil sector which has introduced much real structural change in the economy, and recently the government intends to locate alternatives in the mining sector after the changes and new developments in the oil revenues due to secession of the South. .

The countries that adopted the policy of liberalization have not applied it in full and it was more humanitarian towards their citizens! Let us take the Egyptian model as example; Egypt did not lift subsidies on food and medicine.

Mo Ibrahim Foundation issued yesterday its annual index which has showed that Sudan was classified as 48^th out of 53 countries and 12^th at the level of North African countries in quality of governance and 51^st at the level of national security and welfare at the level of the African continent. .

Mo Ibrahim, the Sudanese-born cellophane pioneer who established the index, disclosed  in statements he made that this year's report gave "a complex yet hopeful picture" of governance.

"These findings strongly challenge the contention that presumes that governments should pick and choose which areas to focus on at the expense of others as a natural and unavoidable trade-off of leadership. The events of this year have clearly shown the possible consequences of a skewed focus that selectively denies citizens some of the public goods and services they are entitled to expect," he added

Expressing concern at the "stagnation, and, in many cases the reversal, in the rule of law and citizenship rights." He warned that: "If economic progress is not translated into better quality of life and respect for citizens' rights, we will witness more Tahrir Squares in Africa!"

The country is now undergoing the most serious inflationary stages of economic and the policy of economic liberalization might collapse the entire economic, so that the government should stop stubbornness and listen to those experts in order to achieve proper solutions to pull this indebted country out of its economic crisis.