Sudan to start printing 100-pound banknotes

Move aimed at easing liquidity crunch in North African nation

Sudan’s central bank will start printing 100 pound banknotes for the first time to ease a liquidity crisis exacerbated by rampant inflation, state news agency SUNA said yesterday.

Sudan’s economy has been struggling since the south of the sprawling north-east African country seceded in 2011, taking with it threequarters of oil output and depriving Khartoum of a crucial source of foreign currency.

In recent months local currency liquidity at commercial banks has dried up, with long queues outside banks and daily withdrawal limits falling to as low as 500 Sudanese pounds ($17.06; Dh101) in some places. The previous largest banknote was 50 pounds.

“Printing the 100-pound banknote is a step in the right direction, because the high inflation rate has dropped the value of the 50-pound banknote,” Abdullah Al Ramadi, a Sudanese economist, said.

The decision “will help solve the liquidity shortage that harmed the Sudanese economy

Printing the 100-pound banknote is a step in the right direction, because the high inflation rate has dropped the value of the 50-pound banknote.” Abdullah Al Ramadi | Sudanese economist

and the central bank has to increase the money supply to overcome the liquidity crisis,” Al Ramadi added.

Restrictions on how much cash is available to commercial banks are among measures aimed at curbing rampant inflation. At over 60 per cent, Sudan’s inflation rate is among the world’s highest.