SUDAN INSIGHT ALERT: Radio Dabanga - Expert: ‘Coronavirus will exacerbate the economic crisis in Sudan’

26/3/2020: Radio Dabanga - Expert: ‘Coronavirus will exacerbate the economic crisis in Sudan’

 Professor Hasan Bashir, economist and director of the Red Sea University, told Radio Dabanga that the coronavirus pandemic will seriously affect the most vulnerable people in Sudan, calling on the government to take measures to financially support the large informal sector.

 “The most affected [by the curfew] are those who depend on their day-to-day income. These represent a very large segment of the Sudanese people,” Bashir said, citing food and beverage vendors. Bashir also warned that the curfew will negatively impact the health services, as most clinics and doctors operate in the evening.

 Bashir further states that the “entire non-regulated sector” across Sudan, including transport, gold and other export products “that constitute a pillar of the Sudanese economy,” will be hit.

 Bashir called on the Sudanese people, especially youth activists and neighbourhood resistance committees to expand the scope of home delivery services, especially medicines.