Presidency of the Cabinet Approves 2018 Budget
The Council of Ministers allocated its regular meeting on Tuesday, December 19, 2017, to deliberate on the project of the budget for 2018 which was presented by the General Dr. Mohamed Osman Soliman Al-Rakabi, Minister of Finance and Economic Planning,
It is the first budget of the national accord government comprising good economic indicators, , realizing real growth rates of 4%, decline of inflation rate from 34.1% down to 19.5%, decrease in balance of trade deficit to down to 2.2 billion US dollars, the equivalent of 17.6 percent of the Growth Domestic Product GDP growth of investment rate, as well as increase of exports from 3.9 up to 6.1 billion US dollars, imports increased from 6.4 up to 8.3 billion dollars and the savings rate increased from 4 percent to 11.7 percent.
The budget is to be executed through a package of policies related to tax reform, combating smuggling and tax evasion, increasing the contribution of underground resources to export returns , rationalizing and reducing government spending , financing projects related to increasing production and productivity, developing infrastructure, mobilizing idle capacities in the industrial sector, widening the umbrella of social security as well as executing comprehensive coverage of health insurance towards supporting life-saving medicines and going ahead with supporting specialized treatment centers and creating new jobs by employing 60,000 graduates and self-employment via Microfinance programs along with going ahead with supporting students and implementing literacy program.
The Cabinet further approved the budget project for the year 2018 and the by-laws, stressing the abidance by the policies and measures that guarantee the implementation of quantitative objectives that achieve macroeconomic growth.
The meeting also directed increasing the capital of specialized banks and the enforcement of policies to ensure the return of the country's export proceeds to Sudan and indigenizing engineering industries to increase the contribution of the industrial sector to public revenues, increasing the spending on the agricultural sector and gear all resources towards implementing the projects approved in the plan.
The Council of Ministers affirmed that the 2018 budget is consistent with the decisions of the national dialogue and the reform of the state organs program. It represents an essential step in the right direction and will address all the defects in the national economy, comprising a number of measures including stopping the construction of government real estate properties and rationalizing external partnerships to the necessary limit . as well as halting purchase of cars and furniture for government agencies and non-spending on the budgets of companies and public authorities and the non-disbursement of any incentives only after reference to the Ministry of Finance and non-disbursement of rewards to the boards of directors without the approval of the Ministry of Finance and the various ministries in addition enable the Ministry of Finance to check all its accounts of ministries with foreign currency and national currency before the end of the current month of December.