Sudan Faces Import Paralysis

The Sudanese Importers Chamber has stopped importing and paying taxes to the state. (Photo: Reuters)
The Sudanese Importers Chamber has stopped importing and paying taxes to the state. (Photo: Reuters)
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Sudan Faces Import Paralysis

The Sudanese Importers Chamber has stopped importing and paying taxes to the state. (Photo: Reuters)
The Sudanese Importers Chamber has stopped importing and paying taxes to the state. (Photo: Reuters)

The Sudanese Importers Chamber announced the suspension of imports and the non-payment of any customs or tax duties to the state, for a period of three days starting Sunday, in protest against the increase in the customs rate.

The decision constitutes a major shock to the government, which relies mainly on import and export customs revenues to run the state’s affairs in light of the stifling economic crisis in the country.

In a statement on Thursday, the Chamber said that the increase in the exchange rate of foreign currencies would augment customs duties by 30.8 percent, which will have dire effects on the living conditions in the country.

The Sudanese Importers Chamber called on all its employees to stop all imports, and to refrain from paying customs and tax fees and any other government fees for three days, until reaching an agreement with the concerned authorities.

In turn, the Sudanese Ministry of Finance denied in a statement, the adoption of any decision to increase the customs fees. The ministry’s official spokesman, Ahmed Al-Sharif Mohamed Abdel-Rahman, said that the price of the dollar varies according to the policy adopted by the country’s central bank.

A decision was announced in June, eliminating the customs exchange rate used to calculate import duties.

The move comes within a reform plan monitored by the International Monetary Fund to give debt relief and attract new financing.

Economic Expert Al-Fateh Mahjoub Othman told Asharq Al-Awsat that the decision to raise the price of the customs dollar to equal the exchange rate of the Sudanese pound in all government transactions removes one of the biggest hurdles to the Sudanese economy.

He added that the decision would help the government improve its public finances, and increase its spending ability in the first and second quarters without resorting to borrowing from the Bank of Sudan.



Gold Falls to One-week Low as Dollar Firms after Tariff Deadline Extension

FILE PHOTO: An employee places ingots of 99.99 percent pure gold in a workroom at the Novosibirsk precious metals refining and manufacturing plant in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk, Russia, September 15, 2023. REUTERS/Alexander Manzyuk/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: An employee places ingots of 99.99 percent pure gold in a workroom at the Novosibirsk precious metals refining and manufacturing plant in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk, Russia, September 15, 2023. REUTERS/Alexander Manzyuk/File Photo
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Gold Falls to One-week Low as Dollar Firms after Tariff Deadline Extension

FILE PHOTO: An employee places ingots of 99.99 percent pure gold in a workroom at the Novosibirsk precious metals refining and manufacturing plant in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk, Russia, September 15, 2023. REUTERS/Alexander Manzyuk/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: An employee places ingots of 99.99 percent pure gold in a workroom at the Novosibirsk precious metals refining and manufacturing plant in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk, Russia, September 15, 2023. REUTERS/Alexander Manzyuk/File Photo

Gold prices retreated to a one-week low on Monday as the dollar firmed and traders digested US President Donald Trump's extension of his July 9 tariff deadline to August 1 and assertion that the US is close to several trade deals.

Spot gold was down 0.8% at $3,307.87 an ounce at 1302 GMT after hitting its lowest since June 30 at $3,296.09. US gold futures lost 0.7% to $3,318.

The stronger dollar, up 0.2% against a basket of other major currencies, makes dollar-priced gold more expensive for buyers with other currencies, Reuters reported.

"The market volumes remain quiet at this moment, and price action is probably still just reflecting the latest piece of economic data, but also starting to look forward to the potential for trade deals to be announced," said Daniel Ghali, commodity strategist at TD Securities.

Last week's stronger than expected US payroll data cemented expectations that the Federal Reserve is unlikely to cut interest rates as early as previously expected.

Minutes of the Fed's latest policy meeting and speeches by several Fed officials are due this week for further insights into the central bank's policy path.

Elsewhere, China's central bank added gold to its reserves in June for an eighth consecutive month, official data from the People's Bank of China (PBOC) showed on Monday.

"The PBoC in particular has been diversifying foreign exchange reserves substantially and an uptick in uncertainty and geopolitical risk may speed up the process," said Zain Vawda, analyst at MarketPulse by OANDA.

In other precious metals, spot silver fell 1.6% to $36.32 an ounce, platinum shed 2.9% to $1,350.97 and palladium lost 3% to $1,100.65.