ABU DHABI - The oil-rich emirate of Abu Dhabi agreed Monday to deposit $400 million in Sudan's central bank to "help economic development" in the African country, state media said.
The government-owned Abu Dhabi Fund for Development signed the agreement with Sudan's central bank in the United Arab Emirates capital, WAM state news agency said. The latest UAE economic assistance to Khartoum aims "to enable it to achieve sustainable economic and social development and overcome challenges", ADFD director general Mohammed al-Suwaidi said at the signing ceremony.
Central bank governor Hazim Babiker, quoted by WAM, said the deposit comes at an "important time" to help "strengthen monetary and fiscal stability, and to support liquidity and central bank (foreign) reserves". Sudan's economy has been heavily impacted by the loss of nearly 75 percent of oil earnings following South Sudan's secession in 2011, depriving Khartoum of a key source of foreign currency used for purchasing food and other imports.
Sudan's economy has also been damaged by US trade sanctions since 1997, complicating international banking transactions. Washington imposed a trade embargo on Sudan in 1997 over Khartoum's alleged backing for radical Islamist groups and over the conflict in the western region of Darfur.