adminKHARTOUM. — Sudan will cut its government spending and increase social spending, the cabinet said on Saturday, after completing a raft of rapid economic reforms this month that threaten to compound pressures on the majority of the population.
Earlier this month, Sudan fully removed subsidies on car petrol and diesel, and in February it devalued its currency and began a policy of a flexible managed float.
Last week it eliminated its customs exchange rate, used to calculate import duties, as the final step in a devaluation of its local currency.
The country will cut costs of external official trips by 50 percent, reduce fuel quotas for government vehicles by 20 percent, sell all surplus government vehicles and cut embassies’ budgets by 25 percent among other measures, the cabinet said on Saturday after three days of closed meetings.
The government will expand the registration of a family support project called Thamarat or Fruits to include three million families or about 15 million people within two months, it added. — Reuters
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