Minister of Finance Addresses Economy and Politics at a Press Conference

Port Sudan – Sudanhorizon- Talal Ismail
The Sudanese Minister of Finance, Jibril Ibrahim, addressed many issues regarding economic and political challenges during his press conference held in Port Sudan, Red Sea State. He confirmed the cancellation of the agreement with the UAE on Abu Amama’s new Red Sea Port.
Dr Jibril was keen to appear as a statesman and the head of the Justice and Equality Movement, fighting within the joint force of armed movements against the Rapid Support Militia. He also avoided the traps set for him in several leaks published on social media about his resignation or the movement’s demand, along with other movements, for sums of money within the framework of military preparation.
Jibril returned to Port Sudan after participating as head of the Sudanese delegation in the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB), which were recently held in Washington.
In addition to the main official encounters, the Minister participated in a number of meetings and meetings accompanying the activities of the annual meetings, including a meeting with the Director General of the Kuwait Fund for Development, meetings of the first African group at the World Bank, and meetings with the President of the African Development Bank Group and the Executive Director of the World Bank’s Epidemic Fund.

Why these meetings
The Minister told reporters on Sunday that his participation in the meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank comes from the perspective that “we seek to attend regional forums to prove the presence of the government itself, and the state must be present with its official recognized institutions so that there is no confusion about who represents Sudan.”
Dr Jibril underlined the importance of the meetings he held during that visit, saying: “We held a very important meeting attended by the Undersecretary of Planning with the Deputy Director of the World Bank. In this meeting, we discussed in detail the resources or amounts allocated to the Republic of Sudan to support our living conditions.”
He confirmed that a delegation headed by him participated in the annual meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund in New York, where he registered a protest against the slow pace of the World Bank grant procedures for Sudan and the position of the World Bank’s financiers on the corrective measures on October 25, 2021. The Minister added that the World Bank, due to what he called “corrective measures,” does not place grants in the accounts of the Central Bank of Sudan but rather grants them to the country through the UNICEF and World Food Program agencies. He added, “It was agreed that the two agencies would work closely with the Sudanese government according to the priorities of the Sudanese government.” He said: “We entered into a dialogue with them, and funds were allocated to us, but these funds were not disbursed. We filed a protest on two matters: the first is that the procedures are very slow for the World Bank to disburse the funds allocated to countries, and the other matter is that the financiers of this bank have a position on the corrective measures that were taken on October 25, 2021. They do not deal with us directly. We reached an agreement to accelerate the funds allocated to Sudan. The funds were allocated to the World Food Program Fund, and it was agreed to add thirty million dollars, 82 million dollars for health emergencies, 42 million dollars for education, and another one hundred million dollars also allocated for social emergencies. These amounts are supposed to be disbursed before June, God willing.” He added: “One hundred million dollars were allocated for production in Sudan, and we expect the funds to arrive quickly to provide fertilizers and agricultural inputs to catch up with the winter season.”
Meeting with the US Envoy
Gabriel said, “We also met with the US envoy to Sudan after that and discussed political issues, crossings, and peace with him. The meeting was somewhat stormy.”

Minister’s Resignation
The Minister of Finance addressed what was circulated on social media about his resignation, saying: “During our absence, there was a lot of talk that we submitted our resignations from the Ministry of Finance. This is not true, but we certainly have observations on how our executive apparatus is managed. We discuss these observations through institutions, not in the open media, but through channels concerned with reforming executive performance in the country, but no resignation has been submitted so far.”
He continued, “We are still in our position, but we have reservations about the decision-making process of our executive apparatus. Resignations do not manage reservations.”
He added: “Appointing or dismissing officials in institutions affiliated with any minister without consulting him is a mistake, and no powers are transferred from the Ministry of Finance.”
He continued, saying: “During our absence, we heard a lot of talk about the blackmail of the armed movements, that they met and blackmailed the army. We entered the war, and we did not ask anyone for anything, but let us be clear that war has a daily consumption of ammunition, and the vehicles themselves end up in every battle, and the movements do not have the capacity; they do not have budgets to spend on the war, it is very natural that the state is the one spending on the war.”
He added: “The government purchase the weapons for the army or the armed movements and the security forces or the mobilized or the popular resistance, the state knows the fighter and seeks to provide this need as much as it can, and we do not fight to please anyone, never, but we fight because this is our country and we want to preserve its unity, and no one can do us a favour with this, and there is no one who hires us to fight, and the talk now about the movements wanting to return to neutrality is ridiculous talk that has no meaning.”
Jibril Ibrahim stressed: “We will continue this fight until we defeat the rebellion, and God willing, this will happen shortly. Your brothers in all locations are standing strong, and God willing, victory is near.”

The position twards the UAE
The Minister of Finance said: “The rebellion receives absolute support from the United Arab Emirates. The UAE’s support for the rebellion is not limited to logistical support or weapons but rather political support, diplomatic support, and huge media support worldwide. After what happened, we will not concede a single centimetre for the UAE” on the Red Sea coast.