Sudan will introduce a new free-floating currency during the first half of 2006, Finance Minister al-Zubeir Ahmed al-Hassan said on Sunday, urging donors to help fund the $100 million cost of implementation.
He also said he expected oil exports to earn about $7.8 billion in 2006, compared to $3.7 billion this year, as another pipeline comes on stream, increasing production by 200,000 barrels per day (bpd) to about half a million.
"The cost of introducing the (new) Sudanese pound will be about $100 million dollars," Hassan told reporters in Khartoum. "According to the peace agreement, the donor countries have promised to provide the necessary funding for the introduction of the new Sudanese pound."
Sudan formed a new coalition government last month following a January peace deal to end the civil war in its south, which was Africa's longest and claimed 2 million lives. The deal also envisages wealth sharing, democratic transformation and a referendum on southern secession in 6 years.
The minister said the value of the Sudanese pound would be determined by market mechanisms. The pound will replace the Sudanese dinar, which currently trades at around 240 to the US dollar.
Hassan said oil revenues would make up around half of Sudan's budget for 2006, the first since the formation of the new coalition government.
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