Sudan plans new currency, austerity budget, on back of oil losses

In a televised speech Tuesday, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir said his country would replace its currency in the coming days, and would impose new austerity measures.

The announcement comes a day after South Sudan, which became the world's newest country on Saturday, unveiled its own plans to launch a new currency, the South Sudan pound, in a bid to separate its economy from that of the north.

South Sudan took about 75 percent of the country's oil reserves with it when it ceded.

Addressing parliament in the capital, Khartoum, Bashir announced a three-year "emergency program", that would include the new currency, to compensate for oil losses.

The BBC reported that Bashir also promised a more open society where people would be free to express political views. He said:

Our relations with the newly born state of South Sudan will be based on respect of covenants and serious commitment to consolidate stability. Our government is keen not to curb freedom of speech. No one from today will be arrested for expressing his political views.

While both countries needed to coordinate their currency launches to avoid future disputes, South Sudan's Central Bank governor, Elijah Malok, told Reuters that he had not been informed about Bashir's plan.

Malok said South Sudan must figure out how to redeem up to 2 billion old Sudanese pounds still circulating in its economy.