Political sketch
Independent from the United Kingdom and Egypt on 1 January 1956.
In the early 1800s, Egypt rulers sought to incorporate the Sudan into a state that would encompass the entire Nile River basin. Egyptian military expeditions from 1821 to 1874 conquered the whole country. To encourage European financing of his plans, the viceroy of Egypt engaged Europeans, including the British general George Gordon, to destroy the slave trade that flourished in the western and southwestern Sudan. Gordon's efforts aroused Muslim opposition, leading to a revolt that overthrew Egyptian rule in 1885 and established a Muslim theocracy. The British, having occupied Egypt in 1882 to support its ruler, conquered the Sudan in 1898 and subsequently ruled the country in partnership with Egypt. Under British rule, cotton became an important export crop. In 1951 Egypt declared itself the sole ruler of Sudan. The British and Egyptians subsequently reached an agreement in 1953 to give Sudan self-government. In elections that year for a Sudanese parliament, the pro-independence National Unionist Party won a majority.
The Sudan became independent on 1 January 1956. Its subsequent history has been marked by short intervals of ineffective parliamentary government followed by longer periods of military rule. From 1989 to the present (2005) the president has been general Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir. The country has suffered a long-running civil war as a result of attempts by the Muslim majority in the north to impose the authority of the central government on the predominantly animist and Christian south, which were promised a federal system before independence but have never received it. Some southern districts were stricken by famine in the 1980s and 1990s. Southern Sudanese are reportedly impressed into slavery by northerners. A peace settlement was signed in 2005. In 2004-2005, government forces and government-backed militias murdered and caused the starvation of hundreds of thousands of people in the western region of Darfur. Most Sudanese are subsistence farmers or herders. The main exports are oil and cotton.
Wars since 1500
Sudanese War of 1881-1885 (against United Kingdom and Egypt); Sudanese War of 1896-1899 (against United Kingdom and Egypt); Second World War in East Africa, 1940-1941 (United Kingdom against Italy); Sudanese Civil War of 1956-2005; Darfur Genocide, 2004-2005.
Convertibility
The sterling area:
On 2 August 1914, soon after the First World War began, the United Kingdom issued a proclamation imposing a one-month moratorium of payment for bills of exchange accepted before 4 August; an act of 3 August 1914 gave legislative sanction to the proclamation. The moratorium was subsequently extended for a month and ended on 4 November 1914. Legally the pound sterling remained convertible into gold and could be exported, but the risk to shipping from German submarines made the cost of shipment prohibitive, so the United Kingdom was in effect off the gold standard. The British government refused to include private shipments of gold in its war-risk insurance scheme. After the war, the export of gold was prohibited from 1 April 1919 under regulations that were given statutory form in 1920. On 28 April 1925 the government announced that the act would not be renewed when it expired on 31 December 1925. On 13 May 1925 the United Kingdom resumed the gold standard.
The United Kingdom abandoned the gold standard on 21 September 1931. The currencies of British colonies were almost all linked to the pound sterling through currency boards; being on a sterling-exchange standard rather than a gold-exchange standard, they followed the pound sterling off gold. Over the next few years, some former British colonies (Australia, New Zealand, South Africa) and other countries that had important trade links with the United Kingdom switched from gold to the pound sterling as their official or actual anchor. The result was termed the sterling area. The United Kingdom imposed exchange controls on 4 September 1939, the day after entering the Second World War. Most countries that were not current or former British colonies soon left the sterling area. Among the remaining countries, both current- and capital-account transactions were free of restrictions within the sterling area, but were restricted in dealings with outside countries. After the Second World War, the United Kingdom returned to the gold standard under the Bretton Woods system. It removed exchange controls on 15 August 1947, but reimposed them on 20 August 1947 after suffering a large loss of foreign reserves. Sterling had a dual exchange rate from 1961 until the United Kingdom abolished exchange controls. The sterling area remained in existence because sterling was not fully convertible. It began to crumble after the United Kingdom again abandoned the gold standard on 23 June 1972. By January 1973 the sterling area had shrunk to the British Isles and a few small British colonies; even Hong Kong had abandoned sterling as its anchor currency. The United Kingdom abolished exchange controls on 24 October 1979, ending the sterling area.
Sudan alone:
Egypt established exchange control with Sudan on 11 February 1953. Sudan left the sterling area on 8 April 1957.
Other
Defaults on or restructurings of debt to the private sector (mainly from Purcell and Kaufman 1993 and Standard & Poor's 2004): 1979-present (foreign currency bank debt, as a result of drop in cotton exports, interest rate shocks), 1991 (local currency debt).
Banking crises (data since 1970s mainly from Caprio and Klingebiel 1999 and Frydl 1999): None.
Frankel and Rose (1996) list of currency crashes: 1982, 1988.
No exchange rate data in Reinhart and Rogoff (2003).
References
Primary sources:
--Laws and decrees:
Great Britain (United Kingdom). Gazette. 1665-present. Oxford Gazette (1996-1666); London Gazette (1666-present). Oxford (1665-1666); London (1666-present): His/Her Majesty's Stationery Office from 1903. Online at <http://www.gazettes.online.co.uk>; as of September 2005, gazettes since 1900 are available.
Sudan. Gazette. 1899-present. The Sudan Gazette (1899-1911; also in Arabic; title was Al-gztah al-Sdanyah until until 1970); Sudan Government Gazette (1911-1956); Republic of the Sudan Gazette (1957-1969); Republic of the Sudan Gazette (1969-1970); Democratic Republic of Sudan Gazette (Arabic title Al-jardah al-rasmyah lil-Jumhryah al-Sdan al-Dimuqrtyah; available in Arabic only since 1971). Khartoum.
--Publications of monetary authorities:
Bank al-Sdn (Bank of Sudan). Annual report. 1960-present. Report for Year Ending 31st December ... (1960-1967); Ninth [etc.] Annual Report for Year Ending 31 December ... (1970-present). Khartoum: Bank al-Sdn (Bank of Sudan).
Bank al-Sdn (Bank of Sudan). Bulletin. 1960-present. Economic and Financial Bulletin (1960-1976); Economic and Financial Statsitics Review (1976-present). Khartoum: Bank al-Sdn (Bank of Sudan).
Sudan Currency Board. Annual report. 1957-1960. First Report of the Sudan Currency Board for the Period Ending 31st December, 1957 (1957); Second [Third] Report of the Sudan Currency Board for the Period Ending 31st December, ... (1958-1959); Fourth Report of the Sudan Currency Board forthe Period 1st July, 1959-21st February, 1960 (1960). Khartoum: Sudan Currency Board.
--Web site of the current monetary authority (viewed 20 September 2005):
<http://www.bankofsudan.org>
--Other publications or Web sites:
IMF. International Monetary Fund. 1946-1971 (irregular). Schedule of Par Values. Washington: International Monetary Fund.
Main secondary sources:
Abdel Gadir, el Tayeb Ibrahim Mohd. 1976. Money and Banking in the Sudan. Khartoum: Economic and Social Research Council, National Council for Research.
Barclays Bank (Dominion, Colonial and Overseas). 1938. A Banking Centenary: Barclays Bank (Dominion, Colonial and Overseas), 1836-1936. Plymouth, England: Mayflower Press, for private circulation. (The National Bank of Egypt, which Barclays Bank eventually controlled, operated in Sudan.)
Brimmer, Andrew F. 1960. "Banking and Finance in the Sudan." South African Journal of Economics, v. 28, no. 1, March: 23-34.
Crossley, [Sir] Julian [Stanley], and John Blandford. 1975. The DCO Story: A History of Banking in Many Countries 1925-71. London: Barclays Bank International. (Concerns Barclays Bank Dominion, Colonial and Overseas.)
IMF ARER. 1950-present. International Monetary Fund. Annual Report on Exchange Restrictions (1950-1978), Annual Report on Exchange Arrangements and Exchange Restrictions (1979-1988), Exchange Arrangements and Exchange Restrictions: Annual Report (1989-present). Washington: International Monetary Fund. (Contains information on IMF member countries and some of their dependencies.)
National Bank of Egypt. 1948. National Bank of Egypt, 1898-1948. Cairo: N.B.E. Printing Press. (Contains a few details of the bank's operations in Sudan.)
Pick's Currency Yearbook. 1955-1977/79. New York: Pick Publishing. Succeeded by Pick's World Currency Report and later World Currency Yearbook.
Rifaat, Mohammed Ali. 1935. The Monetary System of Egypt: An Inquiry into Its History and Present Working. London: George Allen and Unwin. (Contains information on Egypt during the period when Sudan was under its rule.)
Siemienski, Z. 1957. The Sudan Currency Board. Khartoum: Sudan Ministry of Finance and Economics, Economics Section. (I have not seen this.)
World Currency Yearbook. 1984-1990/93. Brooklyn, New York: International Currency Analysis. Previously called Pick's Currency Yearbook (1955-1979) and Pick's World Currency Report (1980-84). New York: Pick Publishing Corporation.
Monetary authorities: Sudan
| Dates | Type | Name | Source | Remarks |
| February 1901
-7 April 1957 |
central bank (privately owned) (as part of a currency union with Egypt) alongside dollarization | National Bank of Egypt (headquarters Cairo, Egypt) alongside pound sterling (issued by central bank Bank of England [headquarters London, England]) | Egypt, khedival (ruler's) decree of 25 June 1898, translated in National Bank of Egypt (1948: 17), authorizing National Bank of Egypt to operate; Sudan was a joint territory of Egypt and United Kingdom | The Sudan used Egyptian notes and mainly British coins. The first bank was the National Bank of Egypt (headquarters Cairo, Egypt), in Khartoum, in February 1901. The second bank was the Anglo-Egyptian Banking Company (headquarters London, England), in Khartoum, in 1913 (Crossley and Blandford 1975: 321). Paper currency had been issued in 1885 by the British military commander during the unsuccessful British defense of Khartoum. Sudan issued its first coins on 19 January 1957 in accord with Sudan, Sudanese Coinage (Temporary Powers) Act, 1956. The coins became liabilities of the Sudan Currency Board (below) when it began operations (Sudan Currency Board annual report 1957: 4). |
| 8 April 1957
-21 February 1960 |
currency board-like | Sudan Currency Board (headquarters Khartoum, Sudan) | Sudan, Currency Act, 17 June 1956, reprinted as amended in Sudan Currency Board annual report 1956: 12-14 | Established a currency board-like system as an intermediate step to central banking. The Sudan Currency Board was allowed to hold up to 50% of reserves in the form of Sudanese government securities as a result of Sudan's financial settlement with Egypt after becoming independent of Egypt. Egypt had left the sterling area and its currency was of limited international use. The Sudan Currency Board issued its first notes at the start of this period. Sudan joined the IMF on 5 September 1957. |
| 22 February 1960
-24 May 1970 |
central bank | Bank al-Sdn (Bank of Sudan) (headquarters Khartoum, Sudan) | Bank of Sudan Act, No. 60, 1 December 1959; Bank of Sudan annual report 1960: 1 | The Sudan established a central bank in accord with prevailing economic views of the time on the desirability of such an institution. |
| 25 May 1970
-1975 |
monobank | Bank al-Sdn (Bank of Sudan) (headquarters Khartoum, Sudan) | Sudan, Banks Nationalization Act, 25 May 1970, cited in Bank of Sudan annual report 1970: 9, 66 | Nationalized the banking system and foreign trade. (For an example of how abruptly nationalization occurred, see the letter sent to Barclays Bank [Dominion, Colonial and Overseas], reproduced in Crossley and Blandford 1975: Illutrations, p. xvii). Soon afterwards, on 14 June 1970, the government nationalized the cotton export trade, the biggest source of export earnings (Bank of Sudan annual report 1970: 10). |
| 1975
-present (2005) |
central bank | Bank al-Sdn (Bank of Sudan) (headquarters Khartoum, Sudan) | Bank of Sudan annual report 1975: 58 | Government-owned banks were converted into government-owned corporations and provisions were made to compensate their former private owners. Commercial banks gained a degree of independence relative to the central bank, ending the monobank system. |
Exchange rate arrangements: Sudan
| Dates | Official arrangement | Source | Unofficial arrangement, if different | Remarks |
| 1836
-16 November 1885 |
fixed; Egyptian gold £1 (talari) = 20 silver piastres (gold to silver ratio of 1:15.5) | Egypt, vice-regal ordinance of 9 April 1834, cited in Rifaat (1935: 47) | The ordinance created the Egyptian pound, but no coins under its provisions were minted until 1836. Gold alone was accepted in large payments, with the British gold sovereign being the most important coin in circulation. There is an extensive earlier exchange rate history, not described here because it belongs to the premodern period before commercial banks and paper money. The name "pound" for the currency came from the pound sterling. | |
| 17 November 1885
-2 September 1898 |
fixed (as part of a currency union with Egypt); used Egyptian pound; also used pound sterling | Egypt, khedival (ruler's) decree of 17 November 1885, cited in Rifaat (1935: 47) | The exchange rate between the two pounds was Egyptian £0.975 = UK£1. The Egyptian pound was a decimal currency from 1885; the pound sterling was not. | |
| 3 September 1898
-February 1901 |
fixed (as part of a currency union with Egypt); used Egyptian pound, which was pegged at Egyptian £1 = 7.4375g gold, or Egyptian £0.975 = UK£1; also used pound sterling | consequence of Egypt, khedival (ruler's) decree of 25 June 1898, translated in National Bank of Egypt (1948: 17) | Egypt established a central bank, so the exchange rate for the Egyptian pound changed from fixed to pegged. | |
| February 1901
1 August 1914 |
pegged (as part of a currency union with Egypt); Egyptian £1 = 7.4375g gold, or Egyptian £0.975 = UK£1; alongside fixed; used pound sterling | Egypt, khedival (ruler's) decree of 25 June 1898, translated in National Bank of Egypt (1948: 17), authorizing National Bank of Egypt to operate; Sudan was a joint territory of Egypt and United Kingdom | The National Bank of Egypt opened a branch in Khartoum, changing the exchange rate from fixed to pegged. | |
| 2 August 1914
-17 December 1946 |
pegged (as part of a currency union with Egypt); Egyptian £0.975 = UK£1; alongside fixed; used pound sterling | Egypt, decree of 2 August 1914, translated in National Bank of Egypt (1948: 37) | The convertibility of the Egyptian pound into gold ended after the First World War broke out. Notes of the National Bank of Egypt remained forced tender after the war. Exchange controls may have ended in 1925, when the United Kingdom returned to the gold standard, but they were reintroduced on 28 September 1939, after the Second World War broke out. | |
| 18 December 1946
-13 July 1947 |
pegged (as part of a
currency union with
Egypt); Egyptian £1 =
3.67288g gold =
US$4.133,
or Egyptian £0.975 = UK£1; alongside fixed; used pound sterling |
IMF, 1st Schedule of Par Values, 18 December 1946: 3 | See the tables for Egypt and the United Kingdom for information on parallel markets in their currencies. | Egypt registered a gold parity with the IMF. |
| 14 July 1947
-17 September 1949 |
pegged (as part of a
currency union with
Egypt); Egyptian £1 =
3.67288g gold =
US$4.133
(or Egyptian £0.975 = UK£1); alongside pegged; used pound sterling |
United Kingdom and Egypt, Financial Agreement of 30 June 1947, cited in National Bank of Egypt (1948: 96) | See the tables for Egypt and the United Kingdom for information on parallel markets in their currencies. | Egypt left the sterling area, but the Sudan continued to be part of it. The former exchange rate between the Egyptian pound and the pound sterling continued until Egypt devalued on 7 May 1962. |
| 18 September 1949
-7 April 1957 |
peged (as part of a
currency union with
Egypt); Egyptian £1 =
2.55187g gold =
US$2.87156
(or Egyptian £0.975 = UK£1); alongside pegged; used pound sterling |
Egypt, government announcement of 18 September 1949, cited in National Bank of Egypt bulletin 1949, no. 3: 107-8 | See the tables for Egypt and the United Kingdom for information on parallel markets in their currencies. | Egypt followed when the United Kingdom devalued the pound sterling on 18 September 1949. Egypt established a 10% tax on certain funds transferred abroad August 1952--a half step to a dual exchange rate. Egypt established exchange control with the Sudan on 11 February 1953. |
| 8 April 1957
-28 February 1966 |
pegged; Sudanese £0.975 = UK£1 = 2.55187g gold = US$2.87156 | Sudan, Currency Act, 17 June 1956, reprinted as amended in Sudan Currency Board annual report 1956: 12-14 ; reaffirned in Bank of Sudan Act, No. 60, 1 December 1959 | Various issues of Pick's Currency Yearbook list a parallel market rate of Sudanese £1 = US$ 1.89-2.45. | Sudan introduced a
national and decimal
currency equal to the
Egyptian pound. The
currency was
named after the Egyptian pound and the pound sterling. Sudan registered a gold parity with the IMF on 23 July 1958 (IMF, 26th Schedule of Par Values, 15 August 1958: 4, 15). |
| 1 March 1966
-14 October 1967 |
pegged, multiple rates; Sudanese £0.975 = UK£1 = 2.55187g gold = US$2.87156 | Bank of Sudan bulletin, January-March 1966: 4; IMF ARER (1967: 561) | Sudan imposed a stamp taxes of 3% on remittances for tourism, 2% on busines profits and busines trips, and 1% on remittances or bills of exchange. IMF ARER (1967: 716) considers the exchange rate here unitary, but I consider it multiple rates. | |
| 15 October 1967
-17 November 1967 |
pegged; Sudanese £0.975 = UK£1 = 2.55187g gold = US$2.87156 | IMF ARER (1967: 561) | Replaced stamp taxes by flat fees of Sudanese £0.25-5.00 on foreign-exchange transactions. | |
| 18 November 1967
-29 December 1969 |
pegged; Sudanese £1 = UK£0.8358 = US$2.87156 = 2.55187g gold | Bank of Sudan annual report 1967: 7 | Did not follow the devaluation of the pound sterling on 18 November 1967. | |
| 30 December 1969
-22 August 1971 |
pegged, dual rate; official rate Sudanese £1 = UK£0.8358 = US$2.87156 = 2.55187g gold | IMF ARER (1970: 452) | Pick's Currency Yearbook (1975-1975: 530) lists a parallel market rate of Sudanese £1 = US$1.50-1.75. (The rate of $1.17 listed for January 1970 is probably a typographical error.) | Introduced a surcharge of 19.65% to the official rate for travel transactions, resulting in a rate of Sudanese £1 = US$2.40. |
| 23 August 1971
-20 September 1971 |
pegged, dual rate; official rate Sudanese £0.8358 = UK£1 = 2.55187g gold (nominally) | IMF ARER (1972: 390) | Pick's Currency Yearbook (1975-1975: 530) lists a parallel market rate of Sudanese £1 = US$1.57. | Gold convertibility for all countries ended in practice when the United States abandoned the gold standard on 15 August 1971. The Sudanese pound remained pegged to the pound sterling, in effect unpegging it from the US dollar |
| 21 September 1971
-10 March 1972 |
pegged, multiple rates; official rate Sudanese £1 = US$2.87156 = 2.55187g gold (nominally) | IMF ARER (1972: 390) | Pick's Currency Yearbook (1975-1975: 530) lists a parallel market rate of Sudanese £1 = US$1.62-2.10. | Switched to the US dollar as the anchor currency and returned to the exchange rate with the US dollar prevailing before August 1971. Following the devaluation of the US dollar against gold on 18 December 1971, Sudan neither devalued against gold nor revalued against the dollar. The government suspended the foreign-exchange market for several days until 27 December 1971. |
| 11 March 1972
-18 February 1973 |
pegged, dual rate; official rate Sudanese £1 = US$2.87156 = 2.55187g gold (nominally) | IMF ARER (1973: 436) | Pick's Currency Yearbook (1975-1975: 530) lists a parallel market rate of Sudanese £1 = US$1.80-2.01. | Devalued the effective exchange rate and thereby introduced a dual exchange rate. The official rate applied to exports of cotton and gum arabic, while the effective rate of Sudanese £1 = US$2.50 applied to other transactions. The foreign-exchange market was closed on 13 February 1973, after the US dollar was devalued against gold on 12 February 1973; the market reopened on 19 February 1973 (IMF ARER 1974: 398). |
| 19 February 1973
-16 November 1977 |
pegged, dual rate; official rate Sudanese £1 = US$2.87156 = 2.115368g gold (nominally) | IMF ARER (1974: 398) | Pick's Currency Yearbook (1976-1977: 539) lists a parallel market rate of Sudanese £1 = US$1.40-1.92. | Followed the devaluation of the US dollar against gold on 12 February 1973. |
| 17 November 1977
-31 March 1978 |
pegged, multiple rates; official rate Sudanese £1 = US$2.87156 = 2.115368g gold (nominally) | IMF ARER (1978: 382) | Introduced a third exchange rate, initially Sudanese £1 = US$1.74, applying to remittances from Sudanese abroad. | |
| 1 April 1978
-7 June 1978 |
pegged, multiple rates; official rate Sudanese £1 = US$2.87156 | International Monetary Fund, Board of Governors, Resolution No. 31-4, 30 April 1976 ("Second Amendment") | The system of gold par values officially ended by agreement of IMF members. | |
| 8 June 1978
-15 September 1979 |
pegged, multiple rates; official rate Sudanese £1 = US$2.50 | IMF ARER (1979: 380) | Devalued effective noon on 8 June 1978 and reduced the spread of multiple rates. | |
| 16 September 1979
-14 July 1981 |
pegged, dual rate; official rate Sudanese £1 = US$2 | IMF ARER (1980: 377) | A dual exchange rate replaced multiple rates. The second market rate was set at Sudanese £1 = US$1.25. | |
| 15 July 1981
-8 November 1981 |
pegged, multiple rates; official rate Sudanese £1 = US$2 | IMF ARER (1982: 406) | The official parallel market rate was apparently flexible. | Legalized the previously illegal parallel market, introducing a third officially recognized exchange rate. |
| 9 November 1981
-14 November 1982 |
pegged, dual rate; official rate Sudanese £1 = US$1.11 | Bank of Sudan annual report 1981: 54; IMF ARER (1982: 406) | The second official rate was a "floating" rate, which was however tightly managed from 27 June 1982-24 August 1982 (IMF ARER 1983: 434; see also Remarks). Annual parallel market data begin in 1981 with a rate of Sudanese £1 = US$0.86 (World Currency Yearbook 1984: 695). | Reduced the number of exchange rates from three to two. From 27 June 1982-24 August 1982, the central bank set the maximum spread in the free exchange market at Sudanese £1 = US$0.8850-0.8606, an appreciation of 23.7% against the previous rates. The central bank then abolished the spread (IMF ARER 1983: 434). Almost no transactions took place at the set rates. |
| 15 November 1982
-11 February 1985 |
pegged, dual rate; official rate Sudanese £1.30 = US$1 | Bank of Sudan annual report 1982: 60; IMF ARER (1983: 434) | Parallel market rate of Sudanese £1 = US$0.33-0.60. Monthly data begin in January 1983 (World Currency Yearbook 1986-1987: 175). | Devalued. On 21 October 1984 the central bank devalued the commercial bank rate from Sudanese £1.80 to Sudanese £2.10 = US$1 (IMF ARER 1985: 461). |
| 12 February 1985
-18 August 1985 |
pegged, dual rate; official rate Sudanese £2.50 = US$1 | Bank of Sudan annual report 1985: 39 | Parallel market rate depreciated (World Currency Yearbook 1986-1987: 175). | Devalued. The second rate was Sudanese £3 = US$1. |
| 19 August 1985
-2 October 1987 |
pegged, dual rate; official rate Sudanese £2.50 = US$1 / flexible basket (see Remarks) | Bank of Sudan annual report 1985: 39 | Parallel market rate depreciated to Sudanese £1 = US$ 0.18 by March 1987 (World Currency Yearbook 1988-1989: 180). | Switched to an undisclosed basket as the anchor but informally discontinued it in September 1985. IMF ARER (1986: 473) says as of the end of 1985 the Sudanese pound was in principle pegged to the SDR but that the US dollar was the actual anchor currency. The second rate, initially Sudanese £3 = US$1, was devalued to Sudanese £3.30 in February 1986 and Sudanese £4 in March 1986 (Bank of Sudan annual report 1985: 40) On 5 January 1987, a change in surrender requirements devalued the effective exchange rate for export proceeds in convertible currencies, other than from cotton and gum arabic, from Sudanese £2.93 to Sudanese £3.25 = US$1 (IMF ARER 1988: 453). The government announced an "own resources" policy of financing of imports on 13 August 1987 (Bank of Sudan annual report 1987: 41), but IMF ARER does not mention it of qualify it as a multiple rate practice in this period. |
| 3 October 1987
-24 October 1988 |
pegged, dual rate; official rate Sudanese £4.50 = US$1 | Bank of Sudan annual report 1987: 41-2; IMF ARER (1988: 452) | Parallel market rate continued to depreciate (World Currency Yearbook 1988-1989: 180). | Officially switched to the US dollar as the anchor currency and unified the exchange rate except for bilateral payments with Egypt, which were subject to a rate of Sudanese £3.25 = US$1. The central bank devalued this rate to Sudanese £4 = US$1 on 19 April 1988 (Bank of Sudan annual report 1988: 35). |
| 25 October 1988
-5 October 1991 |
pegged, multiple rates; official rate Sudanese £4.50 = US$1 | Bank of Sudan annual report 1988: 35 | Among the official rates, the "commercial rate" was flexible, while the "own resources" rate may have been an independent float. The parallel market premium was in triple to quadruple digits (World Currency Yearbook 1990-1993: 179). | Introduced a floating commercial rate. The rule was that 70% of the proceeds in convertible currencies from exports had to be sold to the central bank at the official rate, while the remaining 30% could be sold at the market rate. Besides the official rate and the commercial rate, there was also an "own resources" rate. On 13 May 1989 Sudan introduced levies on certain payments that created further multiple rates (IMF ARER 1990: 459). A currency confiscation of high-denomination notes occurred on 12 May 1991. The maximum conversion of notes allowed was Sudanese £25,000, of which only Sudanese £5,000 could be immediately converted into new notes at 1-to-1; the rest had to be deposited (press reports; World Currency Yearbook 1990-1993: 175). |
| 6 October 1991
-1 February 1992 |
pegged, multiple rates; official rate Sudanese £15 = US$1 | IMF ARER (1992: 459) | The official "free rate" was flexible. The parallel market premium was in high triple digits (World Currency Yearbook 1990-1993: 179). | Devalued. |
| 2 February 1992
-23 May 1992 |
managed float | IMF ARER (1993: 482) | Parallel market premium in mid double digits (World Currency Yearbook 1990-1993: 179). | Unified the exchange rate, initially at Sudanese £90 = US$1 (World Currency Yearbook 1990-1993: 175). Transitional arrangements applied for some transactions, but I do not qualify them as multiple rate practices because they were designed to handle transactions already underway or expected to be conducted at the old rate. |
| 24 May 1992
-15 October 1993 |
Sudanese dinar, independent float | Sudan, Amendment to Article 23 of Bank of Sudan Act, May? 1992 | Parallel market premium in mid double digits (World Currency Yearbook 1990-1993: 179). | Introduced a new currency at 1 Sudanese dinar = Sudanese £10. The Sudanese pound continued to be accepted as legal tender through 31 December 1998. The name dinar emphasized a distinctive Arab identity, since the dinar was a longstanding monetary unit of Arab countries, as opposed to the pound, a unit of British origin. |
| 16 October 1993
-12 March 1997 |
independent float, dual rate | IMF ARER (1994: 475) | There was a flexible rate in the "accounts-to-accounts" market from October 1993 (IMF ARER 1995: 448). The parallel market premium was in mid double digits until data end in December 1993 (World Currency Yearbook 1990-1993: 179). | Reintroduced a dual rate. The second rate was 30.30 Sudanese dinars = US$1. On 2 July 1994 Sudan unified the official rate, but a dual rate continued to exist. The rates commercial banks could offer were allowed to differ by up to 7 Sudanese dinars per US dollar (initially more than 15%) from the official rate. On 20 March 1995 the spread was reduced to 1.5% (IMF ARER 1996: 451). In February 1997 the exchange rate band was determined by a Joint Committee of representatives of commercial banks, nonbank dealers, and the central bank; at the same time, the trading band was widened from 0.3% to 2%. The selling rate was the buying rate plus a spread of 1.25%. The spread between the accounts-to-accounts market and official dealer exchange rates was reduced from about 20% to 16% on 24 March 1997, and reduced further later in 1997 as the official rate was depreciated. |
| 13 March 1997
-20 October 1998 |
managed float | IMF ARER (1998: 843, 847) | I infer from the account below that an unofficial parallel market continued. | All foreign exchange was allowed to be sold to commmercial banks, and compulsory surrender of part of foreign exchange to the central bank ceased. |
| 21 October 1998
-31 December 1998 |
independent float | IMF ARER (1999: 819) | The "accounts-to-accounts" market persisted but it is not clear how legal it was (IMF ARER 1999: 819). | Unified the exchange rate in practice. The central bank kept spread between the official and freely determined (parallel) exchange rates to less than 1%. I infer that the parallel exchange rate was the "accounts-to-accounts" rate. |
| 1 January 1999
-29 September 2000 |
pegged; 258 Sudanese dinars = US$1 | IMF ARER (2000: 835) | Pegged; 258 Sudanese dinars = US$1 +/-1.5% from mid 1999 (IMF ARER 2003: 912). | The Sudanese dinar became the only legal tender and unit of account; the Sudanese pound ceased to be legal tender. The renewed peg to the US dollar apparently happened at the same time. |
| 30 September 2000
-31 December 2001 |
managed float | IMF ARER (2001: 874) | Pegged; 258 Sudanese dinars = US$1 +/-1.5% (IMF ARER 2003: 912). | The IMF reclassified the exchange rate arrangement "based on additional information on how the system operates," which it did not specify. |
| 1 January 2002
-5 June 2002 |
band; 258 Sudanese dinars = US$1 +/-1.5% | IMF ARER (2003: 912, 916) | The IMF reclassified the exchange rate arrangement "on the basis of additional information," which it did not specify. | |
| 6 June 2002
-31 May 2003 |
band; 258 Sudanese dinars = US$1 +/-2% (IMF: pegged, reclassified as pegged to a band 28 February 2003) | IMF ARER (2003: 916) | Widened the band and reduced central bank interventions. | |
| 1 June 2003
-pesent (2005) |
managed float | IMF ARER (2004: 898) | In practice, pegged, 258 Sudanese dinars = US$1 to September 2004. | On 1 January 2003 the central bank discontinued the exchange rate band and replaced a central bank foreign-exchange auction with an interbank market. As a result, the IMF later reclassified the exchange rate arrangement. The central bank did however continue to participate in the foreign-exchange market under a rules-based mechanism triggered when the exchange rate exceeded a band of +/-2% of the previous day's closing rate. On 10 April 2004 the central bank widened the band to +/-3% (IMF ARER 2005: 905). |