Sudan aims to liquidate most of its debts by the end of July

Sudanese Finance Minister Jibril Ibrahim revealed on Friday that his country is seeking to liquidate a “large part” of its $60 billion foreign debt by the end of next July.

Ibrahim said, “The government is likely to formally settle its arrears with the IMF by July 1.

To achieve a key condition, which is debt relief before the Paris Club (a group of creditor countries) meeting next month.”

He added, in an interview with Bloomberg Agency, that 70 to 90 percent of Sudan’s debt may be liquidated.

He pointed out that between 7 to 10 percent of the remaining debt was commercial, “and it may not be immediate.”

Last May, Sudanese Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdok said that his country would reach debt forgiveness of about $45 billion by the end of June.

And the Director-General of the International Monetary Fund, Kristalina Georgieva, announced last January that efforts to forgive Sudan’s debt are enjoying strong support from the member states of the Fund.

Sudan has gradually regained the pace of international financial operations and cross-border cash transfers after removing its name from the US list of “state sponsors of terrorism” at the end of last year.

Sudan suffers from renewed crises in bread, flour, fuel and cooking gas, in addition to a continuous deterioration in its national currency and a steady rise in inflation rates that affected the general rate of commodity prices.