South Sudan warns on money forgeries
May 26, 2007
THE Government of South Sudan has appealed to businesses to receive payment for goods and services at banks, rather than exchanging cash, as the region grapples with the mounting problem of currency forgeries.
By Badru Mulumba
in Juba
THE Government of South Sudan has appealed to businesses to receive payment for goods and services at banks, rather than exchanging cash, as the region grapples with the mounting problem of currency forgeries.
Uganda and Kenya shillings and the dinar and pound, the official currencies circulating in the Sudan, have suffered massive forgeries.
“The banks have machines to detect counterfeits,†finance minister Changson Chang said on Thursday.
Traders should also clear customs dues at the banks, which would help remove counterfeits from circulation, Chang said. This was during the signing of a grant agreement with the World Bank to assist the Central Bank of Sudan to exchange the new Sudanese Pound for the Sudanese Dinar and other currencies currently circulating in Sudan.
The $15m grant will finance the recruitment of personnel to implement the currency exchange, carry out a public information campaign to explain the exchange procedure and establish and maintain currency distribution facilities.
It will also be used to transport the currencies. The Uganda shilling currency notes will be transported back to Kampala under an agreement with the Bank of Uganda.
The currency exchange exercise is part of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement requirements that a unified national currency, the pound, would reflect the needs of all the Sudanese. Todate, there are various currencies circulating in South Sudan, including the US dollar. The dinar has been viewed by the South as a tool of Arabisation.
Sudanese bank officials have lauded the advent of the new currency, even as donors were at the beginning reluctant to fund the exercise, reasoning that sending money to Darfur was a far worthier exercise than funding a currency exchange in a region where people are reportedly not dying.
in Juba
THE Government of South Sudan has appealed to businesses to receive payment for goods and services at banks, rather than exchanging cash, as the region grapples with the mounting problem of currency forgeries.
Uganda and Kenya shillings and the dinar and pound, the official currencies circulating in the Sudan, have suffered massive forgeries.
“The banks have machines to detect counterfeits,†finance minister Changson Chang said on Thursday.
Traders should also clear customs dues at the banks, which would help remove counterfeits from circulation, Chang said. This was during the signing of a grant agreement with the World Bank to assist the Central Bank of Sudan to exchange the new Sudanese Pound for the Sudanese Dinar and other currencies currently circulating in Sudan.
The $15m grant will finance the recruitment of personnel to implement the currency exchange, carry out a public information campaign to explain the exchange procedure and establish and maintain currency distribution facilities.
It will also be used to transport the currencies. The Uganda shilling currency notes will be transported back to Kampala under an agreement with the Bank of Uganda.
The currency exchange exercise is part of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement requirements that a unified national currency, the pound, would reflect the needs of all the Sudanese. Todate, there are various currencies circulating in South Sudan, including the US dollar. The dinar has been viewed by the South as a tool of Arabisation.
Sudanese bank officials have lauded the advent of the new currency, even as donors were at the beginning reluctant to fund the exercise, reasoning that sending money to Darfur was a far worthier exercise than funding a currency exchange in a region where people are reportedly not dying.