KHARTOUM, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- A senior Sudanese official on Sunday announced formation of a government committee to reduce diplomatic missions abroad to reduce expenditure.
"The exchange rate of foreign currencies against national currency is rising in a manner that is not found in countries with deficit in trade balance," Abdul-Rahman Dirar, Sudan's State Minister for Finance, told reporters on Sunday.
"The Presidency has formed a committee to reduce the number of external missions to reduce expenditure on them in addition to measures to raise the value of the national currency against the U.S. dollar."
On Sunday the Central Bank of Sudan decided to devaluate the Sudanese pound (SDG) against the dollar to be 30 SDGs for one dollar.
Last January the central bank devaluated Sudanese pound against U.S. dollar from 6.9 to 18 pounds.
Late last December, the Sudanese parliament approved the country's general budget for 2018.
The budget introduced measures to reduce government expenditure, including stopping construction of government buildings and purchasing vehicles, and ceasing all incentives and bonuses unless authorized by the Ministry of Finance.
The budget intends to achieve a growth rate of 4 percent and reduce the inflation rate to 19.5 percent.
The secession of South Sudan in 2011 has negatively affected the Sudanese economy as the country lost around 70 percent of its oil revenues.
Even the lifting of the U.S. economic sanctions on Sudan last October has failed to halt the decline of the exchange rate of the Sudanese pound, which stood at 41.7 pounds to one dollar in the black market on Sunday.
