A 100 Sudanese to one Egyptian Pound Spurs Sudanese Refugees in Egypt to Return Home

Sudanhorizon – Nazik Shamam
“We are in real danger. We are living through yet another war,” said Sumaya Babiker, a Sudanese national who sought refuge in Egypt after the war, expressing her frustration with the Egyptian pound’s sharp rise against the Sudanese pound, as one Egyptian pound now fetching 100 Sudanese pound.

The Sudanese pound has been experiencing a frightening shoot down against foreign currencies since last week, reaching 4,950 pounds to the dollar in trading on Thursday .

Sumaya, speaking to “Sudanhorizon” argued, “The significant drop in the rate of exchange of the Sudanese pound against the Egyptian pound has placed Sudanese refugees in a real predicament.”
She emphasized that all economic calculations for a decent life have been rendered meaningless by the economic conditions plaguing Sudan.
Sudanese people in Egypt are living in extremely difficult circumstances, facing popular campaigns calling for their deportation to Sudan, in addition to the dire economic situation.
The Egyptian government estimates the number of Sudanese refugees in its territory at four million, 1.5 million of them entered through official channels.
Al-Sir Abdullah, a Sudanese national living in the Faisal district of Giza, confirmed that the living conditions for Sudanese in Egypt have become extremely difficult.
Abdullah told Sudanhorizon , “We are faced with two options: remaining in Egypt at the mercy of the Sudanese pound, or returning to Sudan amidst the exorbitant cost of living.”
He added, “I live in an area where the population is still remote and life is lacking. I cannot return to it at the moment, and at the same time, I cannot live comfortably in Egypt after the Egyptian pound’s rise to 100 pounds.”
He explained that the monthly bank transfers he receives from his son no longer cover even half the rent for the apartment he lives in at Faisal, which is considered one of the cheapest areas to rent.
For his part, Sudanese national Mohammed Ibrahim pointed out that the current economic situation is pushing Sudanese people in Egypt to return to Sudan, especially those who own property.
He emphasized that the current state of the Sudanese pound makes it impossible for Sudanese people to live abroad, given their limited resources, most of which come from Sudan via bank transfers.
He told Sudanhorizon that hundreds of Sudanese families are preparing to return to Sudan and live there, despite the lack of services in most neighborhoods of the capital, Khartoum.
For his part, a trader who works in money transfers for Sudanese people—preferring to remain anonymous—confirmed that there is significant instability in the Sudanese currency markets, which has greatly affected refugees in Egypt.
He told Sudanhorizon that : “We stopped any activities for the past two days because we couldn’t keep up with the prices, and because the price fluctuates hourly, making it extremely difficult to keep pace.”
Regarding the accusations that they are responsible for this rise, he explained that currency prices are a result of supply and demand factors, which is a well-known fact. He pointed out that there is a high demand for currency from fuel import companies, which has contributed to the devaluation of the Sudanese pound against foreign currencies.
He emphasized the government’s failure to control currency prices through recent decisions, including banning imports and imposing new regulations on fuel importers.
Economic expert Walid Dalil believes that the first half of this year witnessed a radical shift in the pricing policy of official Sudanese banks, ending a long period of theoretical stagnation and moving towards what has been described as “forced flexibility.”
He stated that official banks, primarily the Bank of Khartoum and the National Bank of Omdurman, were compelled to make sharp adjustments to their indicative exchange rates to bridge the gap with the actual market. The official dollar exchange rate in banking transactions jumped to between 3,350 and 3,450 Sudanese pounds for buying and selling, in an attempt by the Central Bank to attract remittances from expatriates through official channels.
However, Dalil, told “Sudanhorizon” that despite these official measures, the parallel (black) market continues to drive speculation, profiting from the actual shortage of foreign currency in banks. The dollar reached a record high, ranging from 4,500 to 4,700 Sudanese pounds in commercial hubs like Port Sudan and Khartoum, fueled by increased demand for imported petroleum products and basic commodities.
He stated that the depletion of foreign currency reserves, the decline in agricultural and oil export revenues, coupled with deficit financing (printing money) to fund the war effort, led the economy into a spiral of inflation that erodes the value of the Sudanese pound daily. Meanwhile, banking applications (such as Bankak and Fawry) have become key platforms for managing the parallel digital market and settling foreign currency transactions with neighboring countries and the Gulf.
He emphasized that the proposed banking vision posits that overcoming this unprecedented economic crisis requires an immediate shift from traditional security solutions to decentralized economic management capable of adapting to the exceptional circumstances of the Sudanese situation.

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