$5 Billion.. Corruption in Gold Exports

 Recently, the Sudanese Gold Exporters Division announced that the Port Sudan Authority lost ($5 billion) in gold export revenue, as the aforementioned amount didn’t actually enter the State Treasury. It explained that gold production exceeded (53 tons), valued at over ($6 billion), however, export revenues did not even reach the ($1 billion) mark.

In a press statement, the head of the Division, Abdel Moneim Al-Siddiq, shared that gold is the country’s most prominent export resource and was supposed to contribute significantly to alleviating the severe economic hardship caused by the ongoing war.

He affirmed that the Division supports the recent policy adopted by the Central Bank of Sudan to monopolize gold exports completely, without allowing any other parties to interfere, in order to ensure that all revenues enter the struggling economy. In addition, he called for an urgent comprehensive investigation and immediate accountability for those responsible for such enormous losses.

Furthermore, the Division cautioned against monopolizing gold exports, considering it not the ideal or final solution. However, the reality enforced by the government’s actions proven time and again that massive and continuous waste -in revenue- has occurred due to the interference of influential companies and clear manipulation of export operations.