{{The Shura (consultative} council of the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) has endorsed a proposal to lift subsidies further on petroleum products, a source was quoted by local media on Sunday.}}<\/p>\n
The source said that the increase in prices will be applied in phases on two grades of fuel.<\/p>\n
At the NCP Shura Council meeting on Friday, president Omer Hassan al-Bashir hinted to the move in his speech saying that subsidies on fuel and electricity benefit the rich for the most part.<\/p>\n
“Any family with more than a single vehicle gets more subsidies than the salary of the Deputy Minister,” Bashir said.<\/p>\n
The source further revealed that Sudan\u2019s 2nd Vice President al-Haj Adam Youssef told NCP women meeting that increasing fuel prices is inevitable after state failed to get alternatives to plug the budget hole.<\/p>\n
VP Youssef said the measure will take effect in the coming days but he also acknowledged that women will bear the brunt of the price increases that will ensue.<\/p>\n
Following the independence of South Sudan in July 2011, Khartoum was forced to introduce a contractionary budget that saw the partial lifting of fuel and food subsidies which triggered rare but small demonstrations across the country.<\/p>\n
The government defended the measures saying that the country can no longer afford to pay for these subsidies after losing 75% of the oil reserves that are now in South Sudan territory.<\/p>\n
Khartoum and Juba signed an agreement last March that will allow landlocked South Sudan to resume transporting its oil through Sudan\u2019s pipelines after suspending it for more than a year in a row over transit fees.<\/p>\n
Sudan will receive a fixed fee for every barrel of oil exported but nonetheless Khartoum said that it will continue with plans to lift subsidies.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe every month we can remove a little bit, half a pound or a pound,\u201d finance minister Mahmood Abdel-Rasool told press last April adding that the subsidies – which make up around 12 percent of state spending – should be fully removed by mid-2015.<\/p>\n
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