The Sudanese pound has lost about 50 percent of its value since the start of the war. After one dollar was worth about 580 pounds in mid-April, it rose to more than 900 pounds on Sunday amid great panic over the worsening economic repercussions resulting from the war, which caused great destruction in infrastructure and in… The banking, industrial and other vital sectors in the country amid reports indicating losses of tens of billions of dollars.
In fact; The rapid deterioration in the value of the pound is reflected in families that rely on transferring their savings to cover the subsistence and study expenses of their children in neighboring countries, especially Uganda, Kenya and Egypt.
Hussein told Sky News Arabia, “When I arrived in Uganda in June, I needed to transfer about 400,000 pounds per month to cover the costs of housing, living, and school expenses for my three children, as the dollar at the time was approximately 600 pounds; but today the situation has completely changed, and I now need more than 700,000.” To cover the same expenses.
Hussein expresses his fears that the current situation will lead to the depletion of the savings of many Sudanese, especially in light of the war continuing at this escalating pace and the hope of returning home diminishing.”
The United Nations estimates the number of Sudanese fleeing to neighboring countries at about 1.2 million. Most of them had to send their children to schools and universities in the countries they fled to.
Observers consider that the current significant decline in the price of the dollar is one of the serious economic repercussions of the war, which disrupted more than 90 percent of the production and industrial facilities in Khartoum, which constituted the country’s economic center of gravity before the war.
The decline of the pound also causes major crises for internally displaced people, more than 70 percent of whom have lost their primary source of income in a country where about 40 percent of its population depends on daily work, which has been negatively affected by the war.
The government is still facing great difficulties in disbursing the wages of state workers, which has created stifling living conditions.
Due to the difficult security conditions that Khartoum is experiencing, the Central Bank of Sudan announced about three months ago that it would transfer its activities to the city of Port Sudan in the east of the country. But observers questioned the feasibility of the move due to numerous technical and operational problems resulting from the damage to the banking sector in general and the Central Bank in particular.
The currency trader justified the continuous decline in the value of the pound during the recent period by the presence of a large demand for the dollar to cover government expenses and to pay for possible printing expenses of the currency abroad in light of the central bank’s inability to access the cash located inside its vaults and in the currency printing presses that have been controlled by the Rapid Support Forces for days. The first since the outbreak of war.
The trader, who preferred to withhold his name, indicates that there is a large transfer movement from the accounts of individuals, companies, and institutions. He explained to Sky News Arabia: “As the war prolongs and there is no hope of a near return, many are resorting to transferring their savings into hard currencies, which exacerbates the current deterioration in the value of the pound.”
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