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World Bank to resume funding projects to support poor in Sudan: Ministry

Khartoum, May 18 (IANS) The World Bank has notified the Sudanese authorities that it would resume funding projects for supporting the poor people in Sudan, the Sudanese Foreign Ministry has announced.

“The Finance Minister Jibril Ibrahim has been informed that the World Bank has embarked on resuming the program relating to supporting the poor,” the Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.

“The World Bank is proceeding with the steps of resuming projects that focus directly on supporting the poor people in Sudan, such as the ‘Thamrat’ program and the vaccination against coronavirus, through implementation and monitoring by a third party such as the World Food Program,” the statement added.

The “Thamrat” represents one of the most important programs financed by the World Bank, aiming to lessen the impact of an economic reform programme adopted by the dissolved transitional government in Sudan, Xinhua news agency reported.

The support programme was launched by the government of former Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok in 2020 to provide direct cash support to nearly 32 million Sudanese people, out of Sudan’s total population of 40 million.

According to the World Bank studies, 30 per cent of Sudanese are no longer able to purchase their basic needs after implementing the economic reform.

Sudan has been facing an economic crisis since the US and international agencies suspended aid after Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, the General Commander of the Sudanese armed forces, declared a state of emergency on October 25, 2021, and dissolved the Sovereign Council.

The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have frozen more than $4 billion in aid to Sudan.

Sudan’s debt relief process under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative of the IMF has also been suspended.

Sudan has been plagued by an economic crisis since the secession of south Sudan in 2011, which costs Sudan 75 per cent of its oil revenues.

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