Sudan Will Not Lift Wheat, Furnace Oil, Cooking Gas Subsidies this Year

Motorists queue up at a petrol station in the Sudanese capital Khartoum on January 21, 2014. (AFP)
Motorists queue up at a petrol station in the Sudanese capital Khartoum on January 21, 2014. (AFP)
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Sudan Will Not Lift Wheat, Furnace Oil, Cooking Gas Subsidies this Year

Motorists queue up at a petrol station in the Sudanese capital Khartoum on January 21, 2014. (AFP)
Motorists queue up at a petrol station in the Sudanese capital Khartoum on January 21, 2014. (AFP)

Sudan will not lift subsidies this year on wheat, cooking gas or furnace oil, which is used to produce electricity, finance minister Jibril Ibrahim said on Wednesday, a day after subsidies on gasoline and diesel were fully lifted.

Ibrahim said the government is committed to removing the so-called customs exchange rate, used to determine import duties on a range of goods, but is studying tariff levels to ensure that consumer prices are not affected.

Sudan is implementing a raft of IMF-monitored reforms, including a currency devaluation, in hopes of alleviating a protracted economic crisis and attracting foreign financing.

Ibrahim also said he was studying wide-ranging reforms for the banking system.

Sudan produced 400,000 tons of wheat in the past season which was disappointing, Jibril said. This accounted for a quarter of the country's needs of 1.6 million tons.



Turkish Annual Inflation Falls More Than Expected to 44.38%

A shopkeeper uses his mobile phone as he waits for customers at a popular middle-class shopping district in Istanbul, Türkiye March 4, 2024. REUTERS/Murad Sezer/File photo
A shopkeeper uses his mobile phone as he waits for customers at a popular middle-class shopping district in Istanbul, Türkiye March 4, 2024. REUTERS/Murad Sezer/File photo
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Turkish Annual Inflation Falls More Than Expected to 44.38%

A shopkeeper uses his mobile phone as he waits for customers at a popular middle-class shopping district in Istanbul, Türkiye March 4, 2024. REUTERS/Murad Sezer/File photo
A shopkeeper uses his mobile phone as he waits for customers at a popular middle-class shopping district in Istanbul, Türkiye March 4, 2024. REUTERS/Murad Sezer/File photo

Turkish annual consumer price inflation fell more than expected to 44.38% in December, official data showed on Friday, with education, housing and restaurant prices leading the rise.

Month on month, inflation was 1.03%, the Turkish Statistical Institute said, compared with 2.24% in November. Annual consumer price inflation (CPI) was 47.09% in November.

Furniture prices rose 2.78% from the previous month, data showed, while telecoms-related prices gained by 1.82%.

In a Reuters poll, the annual inflation rate was expected to fall to 45.2%, with the monthly figure seen at 1.61%, owing to easing food price inflation and a limited rise in energy prices.

The latest inflation print was close to the central bank's midpoint prediction of 44% for the end of 2024.

The bank, having kept its main interest rate steady at 50% since March, launched an easing cycle last week, cutting the policy rate by 250 basis points to 47.5%.

The bank said it will set policy "prudently" meeting by meeting with a focus on the inflation outlook while responding to any expected "significant and persistent deterioration".

The Turkish lira was little changed after the data at 35.3850 to the dollar, hovering around the record lows.

The domestic producer price index was up 0.4% month on month in December for an annual rise of 28.52%, the data showed.