Exchange bureaus head for liquidation as US. Dollar rises

(AFP/File, Ashraf Shazly)

The price of the US dollar in the hard currency black market, also known as the parallel market, jumped to 6.30 Sudanese pounds (SDG) yesterday, with  the price of the Saudi Riyal rising to (1.62) SDG.

Observers and concerned traders attribute the rise in the dollar exchange rate to the setbacks of the Sudan- South Sudan joint committees, charged with implementation of agreements signed between the two countries which so far failed to produce positive results on the ground.

Reliable sources revealed that some currency exchange bureaus in the country plan to liquidate their businesses by the beginning of next year due to losses sustained as business volume took a sharp plunge.     

 The decline in the business of these bureaus was set in motion by a set of procedures adopted by the Central Bank of Sudan (CBoS), aimed at narrowing the gap between official and black market foreign currency exchange rates. The gap has been growing every since the country lost its main source of hard currency revenues, when South Sudan decided to halt its oil production.

In May, the CBoS allowed government-licensed Forex bureaus to determine their own rates for buying and selling currencies in an effort to curb the flourishing black market.

The situation changed little as Forex offices kept hiking their rates to match value and keep up with unofficial trade. Eventually, they failed to meet demand, due to the limited quotas they received from CBoS.