Saudi Arabia to invest $3 billion in Sudan investment fund
KHARTOUM - Saudi Arabia has committed to investing $3 billion in a joint fund for investments in Sudan, and to encouraging other parties to participate, Sudanese minister of Cabinet affairs Khalid Omer Yousif told Reuters on Friday.
Earlier this week, Sudan had secured a recommitment from
Saudi Arabia to a $1.5 billion grant it had first announced in April 2019.
The commitments came from Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman,
Yousif said, during a visit by Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and other
senior officials this week, seeking to boost cooperation as Sudan’s
transitional authorities struggle to tackle a long-running economic crisis.
Sudan received $300 million of the 2019 grant following the
removal of former President Omar al-Bashir by the military following months of
protest, Yousif told Reuters.
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates had jointly
promised $3 billion in aid to Sudan and Sudanese officials previously indicated
that $750 million of that aid had been delivered, including a $500 million
deposit in the central bank.
However, there was no news of further disbursements and it
was unclear whether the remainder of the aid would be delivered after civilian
groups struck a power-sharing deal with the military in the summer of 2019.
Some of the aid was expected to arrive in the form of badly
needed supplies of wheat, medicine, fuel and other goods, and Yousif said joint
committees would determine how the remaining $1.2 billion of the Saudi Arabian
grant would be delivered.
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