SUDAN NEWS ALERT: Reuters - Sudan's bourse maps out expansion plans amid uncertainty

13/11/19: Reuters - Sudan's bourse maps out expansion plans amid uncertainty, by Ulf Laessing

 Reuters feature piece examines the challenges facing the development of Sudan’s financial market.

 The article notes that many foreigners who have bought into the market struggled to repatriate their investments due to hard currency shortages caused by oil revenues lost from South Sudan’s succession

 Finance Minister Ibrahim Elbadawi said the transitional government plans to set up an investment body to review investment regulations, which “will encourage higher volumes once economic reforms have been enacted and inflation brought down.”

 Elbadawi also re-iterated the need for Sudan to be integrated into the global financial system by having its terrorism designation lifted by the US.

 Dima Awad, general manager at Sudan’s biggest brokerage, Sanabel Securities, said financial market growth requires infrastructure development, government support, new technologies, connectivity with the Gulf, and a greater range of tradable products, since many foreign investors are not interested in Sukuk (Islamic bonds) which dominates Sudanese financial trade.