Sudan to Raise Import Duties on 130 Items

Sudanese Customs Headquarters (Sudanese Customs Authority)
Sudanese Customs Headquarters (Sudanese Customs Authority)
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Sudan to Raise Import Duties on 130 Items

Sudanese Customs Headquarters (Sudanese Customs Authority)
Sudanese Customs Headquarters (Sudanese Customs Authority)

The Sudanese authorities have raised customs duties on 130 commodities, including gasoline and wheat, to cover the expected deficit in this year's budget.

The tariff hike, which immediately entered into force, would increase the prices of many imported and local goods amid the country's stagflation.

The Customs Authority stated that the amendment of customs categories came following the government's decision.

The increase in customs duties for transport vehicles of various weights ranged between 25 and 40 percent, while electric cars were exempted from any customs duties, and no new amendments were made to the customs of four-wheel drive vehicles.

Customs increases affected meat, fish, fruits, spices, and luxury goods, between 20 and 40 percent.

In February, Sudan's Sovereignty Council and the government approved the 2023 budget after a delay of over a month.

Budget revenues amounted to 7.363 trillion Sudanese pounds, and public spending amounted to 8.196 trillion pounds, with a deficit of 1.4 percent of GDP.

The state seeks to increase revenues and bridge the budget deficit by expanding the tax umbrella instead of raising taxes and rationalizing government spending.

The inflation rate in January dropped to 83 percent, compared to December last year, which recorded 87.32 percent.

The US froze aid worth $700 million and European Union countries announced the suspension of any financial assistance after Sudan’s military coup in October 2021.

The World Bank also suspended all aid to Sudan and halted decisions on any new operations after the military seized power.

The funds allocated to help civil transition are estimated at two billion dollars, in addition to supporting the budget and large economic projects that contribute to achieving estimated growth in the coming years.

The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had granted Sudan financial support to reduce its external debt by half under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative. The debt was reduced to $28 billion.



ECB's Lagarde Renews Integration Call as Trade War Looms

FILE PHOTO: European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde and Governor of the Bank of Finland Olli Rehn arrive at the non-monetary policy meeting of the ECB's Governing Council in Inari, Finnish Lapland, Finland February 22, 2023. Lehtikuva/Tarmo Lehtosalo via REUTERS//File Photo
FILE PHOTO: European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde and Governor of the Bank of Finland Olli Rehn arrive at the non-monetary policy meeting of the ECB's Governing Council in Inari, Finnish Lapland, Finland February 22, 2023. Lehtikuva/Tarmo Lehtosalo via REUTERS//File Photo
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ECB's Lagarde Renews Integration Call as Trade War Looms

FILE PHOTO: European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde and Governor of the Bank of Finland Olli Rehn arrive at the non-monetary policy meeting of the ECB's Governing Council in Inari, Finnish Lapland, Finland February 22, 2023. Lehtikuva/Tarmo Lehtosalo via REUTERS//File Photo
FILE PHOTO: European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde and Governor of the Bank of Finland Olli Rehn arrive at the non-monetary policy meeting of the ECB's Governing Council in Inari, Finnish Lapland, Finland February 22, 2023. Lehtikuva/Tarmo Lehtosalo via REUTERS//File Photo

European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde renewed her call for economic integration across Europe on Friday, arguing that intensifying global trade tensions and a growing technology gap with the United States create fresh urgency for action.
US President-elect Donald Trump has promised to impose tariffs on most if not all imports and said Europe would pay a heavy price for having run a large trade surplus with the US for decades.
"The geopolitical environment has also become less favorable, with growing threats to free trade from all corners of the world," Lagarde said in a speech, without directly referring to Trump.
"The urgency to integrate our capital markets has risen."
While Europe has made some progress, EU members tend to water down most proposals to protect vested national interests to the detriment of the bloc as a whole, Reuters quoted Lagarde as saying.
But this is taking hundreds of billions if not trillions of euros out of the economy as households are holding 11.5 trillion euros in cash and deposits, and much of this is not making its way to the firms that need the funding.
"If EU households were to align their deposit-to-financial assets ratio with that of US households, a stock of up to 8 trillion euros could be redirected into long-term, market-based investments – or a flow of around 350 billion euros annually," Lagarde said.
When the cash actually enters the capital market, it often stays within national borders or leaves for the US in hope of better returns, Lagarde added.
Europe therefore needs to reduce the cost of investing in capital markets and must make the regulatory regime easier for cash to flow to places where it is needed the most.
A solution might be to create an EU-wide regulatory regime on top of the 27 national rules and certain issuers could then opt into this framework.
"To bypass the cumbersome process of regulatory harmonization, we could envisage a 28th regime for issuers of securities," Lagarde said. "They would benefit from a unified corporate and securities law, facilitating cross-border placement, holding and settlement."
Still, that would not solve the problem that few innovative companies set up shop in Europe, partly due to the lack of funding. So Europe must make it easier for investment to flow into venture capital and for banks to fund startups, she said.