SUDAN INSIGHT ALERT: al-Sudani – If the government did it

1/8/2021: al-Sudani – If the government did it, by Dr. Abdullatif al-Booni

Economic writer Dr. Abdellatif al-Booni calls for the government to restrict inflation with a limited reduction in fuel prices - potentially helped by an international drop in fuel prices alongside foreign grants or loans – thereby reducing the prices of other commodities.  

Al-Booni, however, argues that the government’s economic liberalisation policy - as reflected in currency flotation and fuel subsidy lifting - is successful, with the “transport crisis turning from scarcity and high cost to just high cost, [and] the farming crisis turning from scarcity in fuel to just a high price of fuel.”

Al-Booni cites the drop in gasoline prices, which he attributes to the unification of gasoline prices for agriculture and transport industries, thus reducing the black market gasoline trading blamed for the transport crisis. Al-Booni also credits government policy for reducing traffic, thereby reducing fuel consumption, as drivers previously burned “cheap subsidised fuel for nothing”.