VenturesNow

Amidst growing food insecurity, Sudan’s wheat harvest risks wastage. Here’s why

Published

2 years ago

June 19, 2022

The Sudanese government’s decision to back out of promises to purchase wheat at favourable prices has put the harvest at the risk of wastage.

Sudan’s Minister of Finance and head of the Justice and Equality Movement, Jibril Ibrahim, in March declared the government’s official position in buying wheat crops from farmers at a price of SDG43,000 per 100kg sack.

Farmers had complained at the time the price structure was announced that it was not favourable to them. Wheat farmers from Sudan’s Northern State staged a protest last month outside the agricultural bank after it refused to take their harvest.

One of farmers, Farmer Modawi Ahmed who have cultivated the grain as part of Sudan’s largest agricultural scheme, named Al-Gezira says “the agricultural bank wants us to pay for our loans in wheat, according to the encouraging price which was set at 43,000 (Sudanese pound, almost 88 euros, ed.). One (a farmer, ed.) must register with the bank the quantity they will supply, and the bank will determine the quantity it will take.

“After calculating the loans, the bank will determine how much each farmer should supply, in bags or kilos, over a certain period of time. And if there is a surplus, they will shelf it, according to what we heard”, said Ahmed.

A farmer and agricultural researcher, Abdellatif Albouni, stressed that “the negative consequences will start showing in the short-term. People will refrain from using fertilizers and pesticides, or they won’t be able to prepare or buy them. There will be a problem due to the depreciation of the Sudanese pound and the fact that farmers have no money.”

According to the UN, over 18 million people, nearly half the Sudanese population, are expected to be pushed into extreme hunger by September.

VenturesNow

IMF mission concludes 4th loan program assessment in Egypt

Published

2 hours ago

November 22, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

Following the completion of a recent visit to Egypt, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has announced that its mission had achieved significant strides in policy talks aimed at concluding the fourth review of the IMF loan program.

The review is the fourth in Egypt’s most recent 46-month IMF loan program, which was authorised in 2022 and increased to $8 billion this year following an economic crisis characterised by high inflation and chronic foreign exchange shortages. It may unleash more than $1.2 billion in financing.

Along with reaffirming its commitment to maintain a flexible exchange rate system, the IMF stated that Egypt “has implemented key reforms to preserve macroeconomic stability,” including the unification of the currency rate that facilitated imports.

Earlier on Wednesday, Egypt’s Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said Cairo has asked the IMF to modify the targets for the programme not only for this year, but for its full duration, he added without giving more details.

“Discussions will continue over the coming days to finalize agreement on the remaining policies and reforms that could support the completion of the fourth review,” the IMF added in its statement.

VenturesNow

Kenya seeks $750m from World Bank, obtains $200m from AfDB— Official

Published

2 days ago

November 20, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

The head of debt management for the finance ministry told Reuters that Kenya had obtained a $200 million loan from the African Development Bank (AfDB) and was negotiating a fresh $750 million loan with the World Bank.

After being forced to abandon proposed tax rises costing more than 346 billion shillings ($2.68 billion) in June due to fatal demonstrations, the East African nation’s administration, which has been grappling with significant debt, has been frantically seeking fresh funding.

The Finance Ministry’s public debt management office director general, Raphael Owino, told Reuters that the IMF’s October clearance of the seventh and eighth reviews, which opened the door for a $606 million loan tranche, had aided the ministry’s talks for more loans.

“The World Bank is coming on board, riding on the back of IMF receipts,” Owino said. “The AfDB is already on board.”

The discussions for more assistance, which came under the World Bank’s “Development Policy Operations” (DPO) with the government, were confirmed by a representative at the organization’s Kenya office.

“The amount of the current (loan) is yet to be determined. The amount will also depend on the implementation of the policy reforms agreed upon,” the spokesperson told Reuters, adding that past DPO loans averaged about $750 million.

In May, the World Bank approved the latest round of DPO loans, totalling $1.2 billion.

According to a statement made last month by Finance Minister John Mbadi, Kenya has set a foreign borrowing goal of 168 billion shillings for the fiscal year ending in June 2025.