Finance Minister Calls for More Cooperation with Academic Institutions

The Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Dr. Jibril Ibrahim, has called for more cooperation between the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning and academic institutions to reach a greater benefit to the economy and said that the coming days will witness meetings between the two sides.

The Minister made the remarks during his address at the Economic Forum held today at the Ministry of finance, on a paper about the impact of the public budget deficit on economic growth in Sudan during the period 1970-2020, which was prepared by Dr. Ahmed Abdullah Ibrahim, Department of Economics, Al-Neelain University.

The relationship between the budget deficit and economic growth is circular and if the deficit resources are used to achieve development, their impact will be greater, suggesting the continuation of cooperation policies and meetings between academic institutions, the Ministry of Finance and economic analysis until the desired effect on the economy is achieved.

The Undersecretary of Economic Planning at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning , Mohammed Bashar Mohammed, confirmed in his comment on the paper that the Ministry of Finance is now working to bridge the resources gap and in this context it has introduced partnerships, the railway project, it is on his way as set up and construction of the new port and Port Sudan project, in addition to improving the situation regarding tax in the field of law, digitization and billing to increase tax revenues by horizontal expansion to increase ream without resorting to tax increases.

He said that this is the second year of the budget, which relies on domestic resources except for some aid, , stressed the need to strengthen the relationship with academic institutions and government institutions related to finance.

Meanwhile, Director of partnerships and Official Spokesman of Finance, Dr

Ahmed Sharif , presented a paper on behalf of Dr.Ahmed Abdullah Ibrahim, who prepared the paper in which  he addressed the causes and factors of the state budget deficit, explaining that the main reason is due to the growth of public spending at rates greater than the growth rates of public revenues, some of these reasons are related to the growth of public spending and others to the slowdown in the growth or deterioration of public revenues.

The paper attributed the most important factors leading to such an increase in the rate of public expenditures, domestic and external debt burdens, military spending, expansion of government employment growth, economic crises, expansion of unnecessary expenditures, commodity and production subsidies, public spending on consumption, deficit financing policy and the impact of inflation.

The paper was discussed by economists at the ministry and its various departments and Dr.Ahmed al-Sharif, commenting on the deliberations at the end of the forum, said that the paper could be amended, adding what was discussed to serve the issues of the economy and addressing the deficit, and that the ministry’s program in the field of reform and development indicates the importance of controlling spending and rationalizing spending.