Exclusive: Rhino – Economist Ahmed Sayed, a member of the economic committee of the Federal Assembly, attributed the crazy drop in the value of the Sudanese pound against foreign currencies to the army’s purchase of weapons and ammunition.

The pound fell to record levels against foreign currencies, with the value of one dollar reaching more than EGP 2,200, the Saudi riyal jumped to EGP 495, and the Egyptian pound to more than 60 Sudanese pounds.

In a statement to Rhino, the economist revealed that the army is printing currency outside banking frameworks, i.e. without the supervision of the Central Bank of Sudan, in the country of ‘Malta’, at 126 trillion per month, to finance the war.

Sayed said that the army’s war effort needs to buy weapons, ammunition, combat equipment and others, which prompted them to buy dollars. In return, the government lost a large part of expatriate remittances and export earnings to cover the army’s need for dollars to buy ammunition, weapons and equipment.

He added: ‘The real reason for the deterioration of the currency is that the army does not have natural sources of US dollars.

He said that the army’s authority, which has become the controlling authority in the state, is tampering with the economy, which led to the recent devaluation of the pound as a result of currency printing, speculation by the government in the currency market, as well as the purchase of weapons and ammunition.

He added: ‘The war has caused the state to lose remittances from expatriates and export earnings, so the army is forced to print currency itself outside the banking frameworks without “ceilings” in large quantities of 126 trillion pounds per month in the state of Malta.

Ahmed Sayed explained that the army receives 450 kilograms of gold every month, which is the state’s share of the great returns of gold, in addition to the proceeds from tax and customs collection, which amount to about 86 trillion pounds per month. This is converted into foreign currency, which led to an increase in demand for foreign currencies against a great scarcity in the supply of these currencies.

He continued: ‘This equation led to an inflationary increase in the exchange rate, which resulted in a sharp decline in the value of the pound against foreign currencies.