Sudan devalues currency in effort to access debt relief

Move meets key demand by foreign lenders to help Sudan’s transitional authorities overhaul battered economy.

The Central Bank of Sudan has sharply devalued the currency, announcing a new regime to “unify” official and black-market exchange rates in an effort to overcome a crippling economic crisis and access debt relief. The change on Sunday is a key reform demanded by foreign donors and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), but was delayed for months as shortages of basic goods and rapid inflation complicated a fragile political transition. The central bank set the indicative rate at 375 pounds to the US dollar, several commercial banking sources said, from a previous official rate of 55 pounds. Recently, the dollar traded at between 350 and 400 Sudanese pounds on the black market.