Sudanese Pound Devalued by 19% as Banks Freed to Set Rates

Sudanese authorities have decided to unify the exchange rate of the Sudanese pound, weeks after the currency’s value began to slip again on the black market. (Getty Images)
Sudanese authorities have decided to unify the exchange rate of the Sudanese pound, weeks after the currency’s value began to slip again on the black market. (Getty Images)
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Sudanese Pound Devalued by 19% as Banks Freed to Set Rates

Sudanese authorities have decided to unify the exchange rate of the Sudanese pound, weeks after the currency’s value began to slip again on the black market. (Getty Images)
Sudanese authorities have decided to unify the exchange rate of the Sudanese pound, weeks after the currency’s value began to slip again on the black market. (Getty Images)

Sudanese banks were selling dollars at a rate of 530 pounds on Tuesday, a drop of about 19% from the previous rate, after authorities moved to counter a slide in the value of the pound on a resurgent black market.

The central bank said on Monday that banks and currency exchanges would set their own exchange rates without central bank intervention. An emergency economic committee under Sudan's ruling council had said official and black market exchange rates would be unified.

Both the Bank of Khartoum, Sudan's largest bank, and the Saudi Sudanese Bank, had set a rate of 530 pounds to the dollar on Tuesday morning, from about 445 pounds previously, a Reuters reporter said. Other banks set similar rates.

The dollar was trading at around 560 pounds on the parallel market.

Sudan's economy has come under renewed pressure since substantial international support was suspended following a military coup in late October.

The military dissolved a civilian government that had carried out rapid economic reforms, including a sharp devaluation of the pound under a "managed float" policy in February 2021.

After that devaluation, the exchange rate had held steady for several months, and the black market had all but disappeared before it began to resurface in recent weeks.



Trump Says US in Transition Period, Downplays Impact of Short-term Recession

US President Donald Trump reacts next to coal industry workers, on the day he signs energy-related executive orders at the White House in Washington, D.C., US, April 8, 2025. REUTERS/Nathan Howard/File Photo
US President Donald Trump reacts next to coal industry workers, on the day he signs energy-related executive orders at the White House in Washington, D.C., US, April 8, 2025. REUTERS/Nathan Howard/File Photo
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Trump Says US in Transition Period, Downplays Impact of Short-term Recession

US President Donald Trump reacts next to coal industry workers, on the day he signs energy-related executive orders at the White House in Washington, D.C., US, April 8, 2025. REUTERS/Nathan Howard/File Photo
US President Donald Trump reacts next to coal industry workers, on the day he signs energy-related executive orders at the White House in Washington, D.C., US, April 8, 2025. REUTERS/Nathan Howard/File Photo

President Donald Trump said the US was in a "transition period" and was going to do "fantastically" while downplaying the impact any short-term recession may have.

When asked during an interview with NBC News whether it would be OK to have a recession in the short term, Trump said: "Look, yeah, it's — everything's OK. What we are — I said, this is a transition period. I think we're going to do fantastically."

Trump's comment on the US economy being in a transition period echoed comments he made earlier on Friday in a social media post, in which he also cited strong employment and reiterated his call for the U.S. Federal Reserve to lower interest rates, Reuters reported.

"We’re only in a transition stage, just getting started!" he said in a Truth Social post. The post followed the release of US data that showed job growth slowed marginally for April.

Trump, who just passed his 100th day in office, has faced growing public discontent over his handling of the economy, with many economists predicting a wide range of tariffs imposed in recent months will drive up inflation and slow growth.