São Paulo – Italy and Sudan’s Central Banks signed a cooperation agreement last week, in Rome, according to information published this weekend by Khartoum’s newspaper Sudan Vision on their website.
According to the Sudan Vision, the agreement also foresees the intensification of the relations between the representative entities from the Sudanese and Italian banks as a way to strengthen common interests.
Sudan’s Central Bank president advised the country’s financial institutions to strengthen their ties with Italian banks so they can broaden their operations in the Sudanese foreign trade.
Because of international sanctions, Sudanese banks have trouble working together with Western institutions to finance the country’s export and import trade operations.
Besides, Sudan lost the majority of its revenues in foreign currency when the country underwent secession in 2011. Most of the oil fields, source of these revenues, were kept by the newly created South Sudan.
Loan
Still last week, Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (KFAED) signed an agreement worth 20.5 million Kuwaiti dinars (US$ 70.2 million) with Sudan to fund an energy project at the East part of the African country, according to information from the Kuwait News Agency.
This is the second loan negotiated for the same project. The fund had already released 25 million dinars (US$ 85.6 million) to the Sudan government. The total sum now went up to 45.5 million dinars (US$ 155.8 million).
According to KFAED’s legal advisor, Nawaf Al-Mehmel, who signed the agreement for Kuwait, the loans are the result of commitments assumed by Kuwait in 2010 during a conference held at the Gulf country to raise funds for the reconstruction of the East part of Sudan.
*Translated by Sérgio Kakitani
