Sudan: Expected Auction on Properties Confiscated From Bashir's Regime

Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Ibrahim Al-Badawi speaks during a press conference of the Sudan News Agency on Monday (SUNA news agency)
Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Ibrahim Al-Badawi speaks during a press conference of the Sudan News Agency on Monday (SUNA news agency)
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Sudan: Expected Auction on Properties Confiscated From Bashir's Regime

Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Ibrahim Al-Badawi speaks during a press conference of the Sudan News Agency on Monday (SUNA news agency)
Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Ibrahim Al-Badawi speaks during a press conference of the Sudan News Agency on Monday (SUNA news agency)

Sudan's Minister of Finance and Economic Planning Ibrahim Al-Badawi uncovered on Monday plans to hold an international auction of properties confiscated from the regime of ousted President Omar al-Bashir.

Earlier, the Sudanese government announced a detailed program to be presented at an international conference planned for April 2020 to secure a broader range of assistance to support the transition.

During his speech at the press conference of the Sudan News Agency Monday, Badawi said that his ministry plans to establish a specialized committee with the mission of organizing an “international auction” of properties confiscated from officials loyal to the Bashir regime.

“Until now, those confiscated properties are worth 1 trillion Sudanese pounds,” the Minister said.

He added that the 2020 budget targets a minimum growth rate of 3% compared to 2% in the past two years. 

Badawi revealed a significant increase in the development component in the current year’s budget amounting to 155 billion pounds.

He said the cabinet initially approved a budget that includes reforms and resource allocation and mobilization, expecting that an economic conference scheduled for next March would come up with a vision to boost the economy in the country.

Badawi said his ministry is keen to reform wages and salaries in the light of the continuous deterioration of the purchasing power of people with limited income, pointing out that task forces have been formed to review the job structure and address distortions in the civil service so that they achieve job satisfaction and justice.

The Minister disclosed an external financing for the 2020 budget through grants and loans provided by regional and international financing institutions.

He said 48% of the total grants and loans are from Arab institutions, 43% by international institutions, and 9% via bilateral cooperation.

Reviewing the sources of budget financing, Badawi said the current government started to pay arrears for the Arab Funds, that the previous regime failed to pay back.

“We are now ready to get advantage of the financing in the development projects,” he said, adding that loans and grants for 2020 include $160 million from the Kuwaiti Fund, $40 million from the African Development Bank and $17 million the World Bank 17 million dollars.

He also referred to the grants of IGAD countries in the framework of bilateral cooperation at $21 million, United Nations agencies at $462 million $ 107 million, in addition to China grants and loans, which amounted to $169 million.



Trump, Netanyahu Meet Again as Gaps Said to Narrow in Gaza Ceasefire Talks

07 July 2025, US, Washington: US President Donald Trump receives Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speak privately in the Vermeil Room before a dinner at the White House. (Daniel Torok/White House/dpa)
07 July 2025, US, Washington: US President Donald Trump receives Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speak privately in the Vermeil Room before a dinner at the White House. (Daniel Torok/White House/dpa)
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Trump, Netanyahu Meet Again as Gaps Said to Narrow in Gaza Ceasefire Talks

07 July 2025, US, Washington: US President Donald Trump receives Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speak privately in the Vermeil Room before a dinner at the White House. (Daniel Torok/White House/dpa)
07 July 2025, US, Washington: US President Donald Trump receives Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speak privately in the Vermeil Room before a dinner at the White House. (Daniel Torok/White House/dpa)

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday met for a second time in two days with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss Gaza as Trump's Middle East envoy said Israel and Hamas were closing their differences on a ceasefire deal.

Netanyahu arrived at the White House shortly before 5 p.m. EDT for a meeting that was not expected to be open to the press. The two men met for several hours during a dinner at the White House on Monday during the Israeli leader's third US visit since the president began his second term on January 20.

Netanyahu met with Vice President JD Vance and then visited the US Capitol on Tuesday. He told reporters after a meeting with the Republican House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson that while he did not think Israel's campaign in the Palestinian enclave was done, negotiators are "certainly working" on a ceasefire.

"We have still to finish the job in Gaza, release all our hostages, eliminate and destroy Hamas' military and government capabilities," Netanyahu said.

Netanyahu's return to the White House to see Trump on Tuesday pushed back his meeting with US Senate leaders to Wednesday.

Shortly after Netanyahu spoke, Trump's special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, said the issues keeping Israel and Hamas from agreeing had dropped to one from four and he hoped to reach a temporary ceasefire agreement this week.

"We are hopeful that by the end of this week, we'll have an agreement that will bring us into a 60-day ceasefire. Ten live hostages will be released. Nine deceased will be released," Witkoff told reporters at a meeting of Trump's Cabinet.

The Gaza war erupted when Hamas attacked southern Israel in October 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, according to Israeli figures. Some 50 hostages remain in Gaza, with 20 believed to be alive.

Israel's retaliatory war in Gaza has killed over 57,000 Palestinians, according to the enclave's health ministry. Most of Gaza's population has been displaced by the war and nearly half a million people are facing famine within months, according to United Nations estimates.

Trump had strongly supported Netanyahu, even wading into domestic Israeli politics by criticizing prosecutors over a corruption trial against the Israeli leader on bribery, fraud and breach-of-trust charges that Netanyahu denies.

In his remarks to reporters at the US Congress, Netanyahu praised Trump, saying there has never been closer coordination between the US and Israel in his country's history.