Sudan budget to reach up to $4.6 bln in 2013: report

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan plans a 2013 budget of between 20 and 30 billion Sudanese pounds, with higher oil output and gold exports helping make up for the loss of oil-producing South Sudan, state media reported on Monday.

Sudan has been struggling with an economic crisis since South Sudan seceded last year, taking with it about three-quarters of the country's oil output.

Petroleum production was the main source of Sudan's state revenues and the foreign currency it needs to pay for imports. The sudden loss sent inflation as high as 45 percent in October.

Increased output in Sudan's remaining oilfields would help offset the loss next year, as would growing gold exports, state news agency SUNA quoted Finance Minister Ali Mahmoud as saying.

Oil production was expected to rise from 115,000 barrels per day to 150,000 bpd, he said. Sudan had planned to boost output to 180,000 bpd this year but failed to reach the target.

Gold exports reached between 47 and 48 tonnes by November and were expected to rise above 50 tonnes annually, bringing in more than $2 billion a year, the finance minister added.

Mahmoud said the budget did not include any increases in wages, which was necessary to ensure the government could continue to cover its subsidies on food and basic goods.

The government scaled back its costly fuel subsidies in June as part of austerity measures to plug a budget gap, sparking a series of small anti-government demonstrations.

Mahmoud said the budget would fall between 20 to 30 billion Sudanese pounds, roughly $3.1 to $4.6 billion at the current black market rate of 6.5 pounds to the dollar. The official rate is around 4.4 pounds to the dollar.

It was not clear whether that total referred to expected spending or revenue.

South Sudan seceded in July last year under a 2005 peace deal that ended decades of civil war with the north.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/sudan-budget-reach-4-6-bln-2013-report-103516019--business.html

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