Bread Crisis in Sudan Hindering Government Efforts

A Sudanese man works at a bakery in the capital Khartoum on Friday. (AFP)
A Sudanese man works at a bakery in the capital Khartoum on Friday. (AFP)
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Bread Crisis in Sudan Hindering Government Efforts

A Sudanese man works at a bakery in the capital Khartoum on Friday. (AFP)
A Sudanese man works at a bakery in the capital Khartoum on Friday. (AFP)

Bread lines remain a familiar scene in the main streets of Khartoum, although the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning announced that it was increasing subsidies of a sack of flour from 100 to 250 Sudanese pounds (around USD14).

A Russian ship loaded with wheat had already arrived in Port Sudan.

Sudan has been witnessing a crisis in providing wheat to bakeries for a month now due to the scarcity of foreign monetary resources in the Central Bank of Sudan (CBS), which was forced to resort to commercial banks to fulfill the country’s needs of essential products, such as wheat and fuel.

The ministry demanded that bakeries increase their daily production to exceed 100,000 sacks to cover the needs of the capital and other states.

The security authorities and popular forces called for taking precautions to maintain the subsidized wheat and prevent smuggling.

Tariq Shalabi, State Minister at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, said that the country seeks to provide bread given that it is a strategic product that is linked to the lives of citizens.

He pointed out that the past period saw several policies to resolve this crisis.



Syria to Receive Electricity-generating Ships from Qatar, Türkiye

FILE PHOTO: A view shows electricity pylons in Kiswah, Damascus suburbs, Syria September 8, 2021. REUTERS/Yamam al Shaar/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A view shows electricity pylons in Kiswah, Damascus suburbs, Syria September 8, 2021. REUTERS/Yamam al Shaar/File Photo
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Syria to Receive Electricity-generating Ships from Qatar, Türkiye

FILE PHOTO: A view shows electricity pylons in Kiswah, Damascus suburbs, Syria September 8, 2021. REUTERS/Yamam al Shaar/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A view shows electricity pylons in Kiswah, Damascus suburbs, Syria September 8, 2021. REUTERS/Yamam al Shaar/File Photo

Syria will receive two electricity-generating ships from Türkiye and Qatar to boost energy supplies hit by damage to infrastructure during President Bashar al-Assad's rule, state news agency SANA quoted an official as saying on Tuesday.
Khaled Abu Dai, director general of the General Establishment for Electricity Transmission and Distribution, told SANA the ships would provide a total of 800 megawatts of electricity but did not say over what period.
"The extent of damage to the generation and transformation stations and electrical connection lines during the period of the former regime is very large, we are seeking to rehabilitate (them) in order to transmit energy,” Abu Dai said.
According to Reuters, he did not say when Syria would receive the two ships.
The United States on Monday issued a sanctions exemption for transactions with governing institutions in Syria for six months after the end of Assad's rule to try to increase the flow of humanitarian assistance.
The exemption allows some energy transactions and personal remittances to Syria until July 7. The action did not remove any sanctions.
Syria suffers from severe power shortages, with state-supplied electricity available just two or three hours a day in most areas. The caretaker government says it aims within two months to provide electricity up to eight hours a day.