The Sudanese government hiked gasoline prices in the capital by 26 percent Friday, November 9 to compensate for reduced revenues from crude oil exports, according to an official circular published in the press.
The ministry of energy and mining order said the cost of transportation from the refinery in Khartoum to the provinces will be added to the new numbers, making the retail price higher there.
In Khartoum, the price of a gallon of gasoline will increase from 250 (one dollar) to 315 dinars, while the price of benzene will rise by 24.6 percent from 325 ($1.30) to 405 dinars. As an example of the even higher prices in the provinces, the circular said a gallon of benzene in Port Sudan would cost 427.50 dinars ($1.71).
Finance Minister Abdel Rahim Hamdi was quoted as saying "it is a painful decision, but we have to take it; otherwise it will be difficult to pay salaries to government employees," Hamdi was quoted by Al-Rai Al-Aam daily as saying. He said the increase would bring in 20 million dinars (about $80,000) which, according to the minister, "meets only two months' salaries." The rise was delayed and should have been imposed in mid-September, Hamdi said. — (AFP, Khartoum)
© Agence France Presse 2001
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
