Sudan to increase state employees’ salaries

Sudan’s council of ministers yesterday issued a decree to increase wages for the public sector workers, state-owned Sudan News Agency (SUNA) has reported, quoting official sources.

The increment, the sources explained, would comprise a minimum monthly income of 500 Sudanese pounds ($10.5), up to 2,500 Sudanese pounds ($52.6).

The minimum monthly income in Sudan has not changed since 2013, standing at 425 Sudanese pounds ($9).

The North African country suffers crises in bread, flour, fuel and cooking gas as a result of a rise in the American dollar against the local pound in the informal markets, recording more than 65 pounds per a US dollar.

Since 19 December, near-daily demonstrations triggered by a worsening economic crisis have spread across Sudan, the most prolonged challenge to Bashir’s rule since he took power in a coup in 1989. According to official Sudanese data, these violent protests have led to the death of 24 people, though opposition groups say the death toll has reached more than 40 people.

Read: Protests rage on across Sudan as doctor and child are killed in violence