Sudan Involves Foreign Investors in Budget Implementation

Sudan Involves Foreign Investors in Budget Implementation
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Sudan Involves Foreign Investors in Budget Implementation

Sudan Involves Foreign Investors in Budget Implementation

The Sudanese government has been negotiating with foreign investors to carry out investments with Sudanese private sector to implement the country's economic goals, which were approved by the parliament in the 2018 budget.

The Sudanese National Assembly, parliament, approved Sunday the 2018 budget bill, which included targets for economic growth of four percent, compared with 4.6 percent last year.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) expected growth for 2017 to come in at 3.25 percent.

Sudan seeks to increase its exports in 2018 from $3.9 billion to $6.1 billion, as reflected in the quantitative targets of the draft budget.

The country is looking to increase production of essential agricultural products, livestock products, gold and oil.

During his meeting in Khartoum on Thursday with newspaper editors in chief, Sudanese Minister of Investment Mubarak Fadel al-Mahdi talked about the involvement of foreign investors in the country's budget.

Mahdi did not give further details on how foreign investors would participate in implementing the budget targets, but he said they would enter into partnerships and alliances with the Sudanese private sector, which would implement the $6 billion plan and about 80 percent of the state's projects in the new year.

The government has agreed with Turkish investors, during their recent visit to Sudan within the 200-member business delegation, to participate in the contractual agriculture article with farmers, which tops the agricultural economic program in the budget, Mahdi explained.

He announced that the government has a joint vision with the private sector to increase production that will be implemented this year.

It is targeting the amounting of agricultural and livestock exports to 10 billion dollars at the end of the planned three years, Mahdi pointed out.

The Sudanese private sector is partnering with the government to implement a three-year development plan covering various economic sectors.

Chairman of the Federation of Employers Saud al-Barir said the cost of private sector business in the state investment plan was about $450 million.

The private sector will provide external financing and guarantees in case of receiving foreign payments, and it will take care of the costs of the studies.

He expected that Sudan will witness economic stability after the implementation of the plan, which will contribute to reducing the deficit in the trade balance.



Trump Says Steep Copper Tariffs in Store as He Broadens His Trade War

A worker makes copper trays inside a workshop in Kolkata, India, October 26, 2017. Picture taken October 26, 2017. (Reuters)
A worker makes copper trays inside a workshop in Kolkata, India, October 26, 2017. Picture taken October 26, 2017. (Reuters)
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Trump Says Steep Copper Tariffs in Store as He Broadens His Trade War

A worker makes copper trays inside a workshop in Kolkata, India, October 26, 2017. Picture taken October 26, 2017. (Reuters)
A worker makes copper trays inside a workshop in Kolkata, India, October 26, 2017. Picture taken October 26, 2017. (Reuters)

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he would impose a 50% tariff on imported copper and soon introduce long-threatened levies on semiconductors and pharmaceuticals, broadening his trade war that has rattled markets worldwide.

One day after he pressured 14 trading partners, including powerhouse US suppliers like South Korea and Japan, with sharply higher tariffs, Trump reiterated his threat of 10% tariffs on products from Brazil, India and other members of the BRICS group of countries.

He also said trade talks have been going well with the European Union and China, though he added he is only days away from sending a tariff letter to the EU.

Trump's remarks, made during a White House cabinet meeting, could inject further instability into a global economy that has been shaken by the tariffs he has imposed or threatened on imports to the world's largest consumer market.

US copper futures jumped more than 10% after Trump's announcement of new duties on a metal that is critical to electric vehicles, military hardware, the power grid and many consumer goods. They would join duties already in place for steel, aluminum and automobile imports, though it was unclear when the new tariffs might take effect.

US pharmaceutical stocks also slid following Trump's threat of 200% tariffs on drug imports, which he said could be delayed by about a year.

Other countries, meanwhile, said they would try to soften the impact of Trump's threatened duties after he pushed back a Wednesday deadline to August 1.

Trump's administration promised "90 deals in 90 days" after he unveiled an array of country-specific duties in early April. So far only two agreements have been reached, with the United Kingdom and Vietnam. Trump has said a deal with India is close.

Trump said countries have been clamoring to negotiate.

"It's about time the United States of America started collecting money from countries that were ripping us off ... and laughing behind our back at how stupid we were," he said.

Trading partners across the globe say it has been difficult to negotiate even framework agreements with the US given the haphazard way new tariffs are announced, complicating their internal discussions about concessions.

HIGHEST LEVELS SINCE 1934

Following Trump's announcement of higher tariffs for imports from the 14 countries, US research group Yale Budget Lab estimated consumers face an effective US tariff rate of 17.6%, up from 15.8% previously and the highest in nine decades.

Trump's administration has been touting those tariffs as a significant revenue source. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Washington has taken in about $100 billion so far and could collect $300 billion by the end of the year.

The United States has taken in about $80 billion annually in tariff revenue in recent years.

The S&P 500 finished slightly lower on Tuesday, a day after Wall Street markets sold off sharply following Trump's new tariffs announcement.

Trump said he will "probably" tell the European Union within two days what rate it can expect for its exports to the US, adding that the 27-member bloc had been treating his administration "very nicely" in trade talks.

The EU, the largest bilateral trade partner of the US, aims to strike a deal before August 1 with concessions for key export industries such as aircraft, medical equipment and spirits, according to EU sources. Brussels is also considering an arrangement that would protect European automakers with large US production facilities.

However, German Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil warned that the EU was prepared to retaliate if necessary.

"If we don't reach a fair trade deal with the US, the EU is ready to take counter measures," he said in the lower house of parliament. Japan, which faces a possible 25% tariff, wants concessions for its large automobile industry and will not sacrifice its agriculture sector, a powerful domestic lobby, for the sake of an early deal, top trade negotiator Ryosei Akazawa said on Tuesday.

South Korea, which also faces a possible 25% tariff, said it planned to intensify trade talks over the coming weeks "to reach a mutually beneficial result."

Washington and Beijing agreed to a trade framework in June, but with many of the details still unclear, traders and investors are watching to see if it unravels before a separate, US-imposed August 12 deadline or leads to a lasting detente.

"We have had a really good relationship with China lately, and we're getting along with them very well. They've been very fair on our trade deal, honestly," Trump said, adding that he has been speaking regularly with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Trump said the United States would impose tariffs of 25% on goods from Tunisia, Malaysia and Kazakhstan; 30% on South Africa and Bosnia and Herzegovina; 32% on Indonesia; 35% on Serbia and Bangladesh; 36% on Cambodia and Thailand; and 40% on Laos and Myanmar.

Cambodia hailed as a big success a reduction in the tariff rate from 49% to 36% and said it was seeking to negotiate a further cut. The tariffs have been an issue for Cambodia's garments and footwear sector, the biggest driver of its economy.

The US is also the main export market for Bangladesh's ready-made garments industry, which accounts for more than 80% of its export earnings and employs 4 million people.