Page 8 - AfrOil Week 02 2020

AfrOil POLICY AfrOil
Sudan backtracks on fuel subsidy plan
SUDAN
SUDAN’S transitional government has delayed a plan to scrap fuel subsidies, fearing the public reaction to the move.
Finance Minister Ibrahim Elbadawi said on late last month that the subsidies would be lifted gradually, starting in Sudan’s 2020 budget. But the government then backtracked after meeting the following day with the opposition during the rule of ex-president Omar al-Bashir, who was ousted by the military in April.
No action will be taken until a conference in March, in which economic reforms will be discussed, Information Minister Faisal Saleh told Reuters.
“In light of the decisions of this conference, the economic policies of the country [will be determined], including policies regarding com- modity subsidies,” he said.
Sudan’s new leadership faces no small task of turning the economy around after decades of mismanagement under the rule of Bashir and the lasting impact of the loss of most of its oil wealth after South Sudan’s 2011 secession.
The government has said it needs billions
of dollars in budgetary support to prevent the economy from collapsing. But it has been una- ble to tap the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and other international financiers for money after its inclusion in the US’ list of state sponsors of terrorism.
The IMF has repeatedly called on Sudan to end the subsidies and float its currency in order to boost growth and investment. But the gov- ernment is reluctant to adopt austerity meas- ures too hastily for fear of putting too great a burden on the population and causing a pub- lic backlash. Its U-turn came after protestors threatened to return to the streets to protest against the 2020 budget.
Past attempts to lift subsidies have all ended in widespread social tensions. An attempt in 2013 led to nationwide protests that ended with the killing of more than 200 demonstrators by Bashir’s forces.
When announcing the plan to cut fuel subsi- dies, Elbadawi said public sector salaries would also be doubled to counter the impact of infla- tion. ™
Sudan’s Finance Minister Ibrahim Elbadawi (Image: Radio Dabanga)
Libyan refinery put at risk of shutdown
LIBYA
LIBYA’S largest functioning oil refinery was put under threat of closure late last month after a nearby airstrike, as the country’s civil war intensifies.
The country’s National Oil Corp. (NOC) warned on December 28 it might have to evac- uate staff from the plant at the western port of Zawiya after a missile landed just west of the facility near a storage warehouse.
There were no casualties or damage, NOC reported.
Libya’s UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA), based in Tripoli some 40 km east of Zawiya, accused the rebel Libyan National Army (LNA) led by Khalifa Haftar of intention- ally targeting the 120,000 barrel per day (bpd) refinery, which supplies fuel to the war-torn country’s western and southern regions.
The government may now be in danger of
being overrun, after recently ceding strategic coastal territories to Haftar’s forces. The LNA
has been trying to take the capital since April. 
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w w w. N E W S B A S E . c o m Week 02 15•January•2020