CBS: Addressing inflation needs serious measures

CBS

Khartoum, June 26 (SUNA) - The Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) has called for taking serious steps to deal with the inflation and reduce it to a single digit, pointing out that the infla-tion was estimated in this year's budget on a different basis, which necessitates reconsiderati-on for the second half of the year. The Director-General of the Central Bureau of Statistics Dr. Karamullah Ali Abdul-Rahman said, in a press statement on the CBS buildings, that the inflation rate this year was much lower than last year, which reached about 80%, but it is still the highest in the Arab and African region, adding: "We are in critical need for serious steps to address the issue of inflation until it becomes a single digit.” Indicating that inflation in May reached 44.9%. He stated that: "If it continues the same trend without interference, positive or negative, it may reach 47.5% by the end of the year, which we do not want." Abdul-Rahman said that the inflation in Sudan was based on food and beverages, pointing out that, in order to deal with this, it is necessary to control the markets, increase production and reduce imports in the fields of food and beverages, stressing that this necessitates greater attention to agricultural processing, which is one of the most important components of the restructuring of the economy. He revealed that Sudan was now relying mainly on non-cash services such as taxes, customs, telecommunications and transport, in addition to others. The CBS Director-General announced that the services represent about 37% of the gross product and that they amount in the state of Khartoum alone to 20% and in the rest of the states to 17%. Abdul-Rahman pointed out that the smuggling of all products was increasing in Sudan including gold, agricultural and animal products and even flour and petroleum materials, and this is not in isolation from the problem of inflation, which led to the devaluation of the national currency.
BH/BH