Announcement of Consultative Group for the Sudan held on December 16, 1983

World Bank - i818 H Street , N.W ., Washington . D.C. 20433, U.S.A.• Telephone : (202 ) 477-1234 December 16, 1983 Contact: Panela Brennan (202) 477-3293 CONSULTATI VE GROUP FOR THE SUDAN The European Office of the World nank made the fol lc,.'ing announcement on December 16, 1983: The Seventh Meeting o: the Consultativ e Group for t:, e Sudan was held -in Paris from December 14 to 1 6, 1983. ~fr. Andre Gue, Director, Country Programs Department II, Easte:!:TI Africa Region of the Worlc oank, che ired the meeting. Representative s of France, Germany, Italy, J a'?an, the Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland, the Uni :ed Kingdom, the United States , the African Develop- ment Bank, the Arab Fund for ~conomic and Social Developcen t, the Commission ~f the European Communities, t he International Fund for Agricultural Develop- ment (IFA), the Internationa _ ~onetary Fund (I}IF), the Is ~a::ic Development Bank, the Saudi Fund for Dev=- opment, t he United Nations ~evelopment Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Hi~h Commissioner for Refugees (l:THCR), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNI ~ F), and t he World Food Pro gr a- :me (WFP) attended the meeting. Canada, Denma rk , Finland , and the Developme=t Assistance Committee of the Organis a ti o= of Ec onomic Cooperation and Developmen t (DAC/ OECD) were represented by O DEervers. The Sudanese _delegatio~, which was led by His Exce ll ency Mr. Ibrahim Monein Mansour, Minister of Finan ce and Economic Planning (YOFEP), also included His Excellency M r. :ouseif Sul eiman, State Minister for Energy and Mining, Mr. Mahdi El Faki , Deputy Go,·emor of the Bar..}< of Sudan, Mr. Fawzi Wasfi, Under Secretary of Economy , HOFEP, and Chair-- ___an of the Joint Monitoring Committee, and otter senior of fici a ls. The Ex·t e rnal Finance Coordinator, Mr. Frank South2.::-d , was als o present at the =.ee ting. The meetin g reviewed t~ e curren t economic situatio~ and prospects of the Sudan and discussed the C-cvernrr.en t ' s r:::ediu~term econ o- ; c recovery program. The dicussion was based on t 1::e Governmen t's document enti tled "Prospects, Pro grammes and Policies f o r "::conomi c Developii}ent II (198 3/84-1985-86)" dated October 1983, and the t-!orl d 3:::.nk ' s econoni c report entitlec "Sudan: Pricing Policies and Structural Ba.1.c~~es" dated Novem be r 10, 1983. The meeting also r eviewed the report prep a r ec ~y the Joint M onitoring CoI!lEitt ee (JMC) entitled "Consolidat ed Report to t h e Con su ltative Group Meeting, Dec22ber 1983, on I mplementation of the Econor::.::.c Re covery Pr og r anme in the ~;.i.ian" dated November 1983. The e st ab lishm en t of the J oi nt 1-~onitoring Committe e ~ .-as agreed at the l ast m eeting of th e Gr oup i n January 1983 , for the purpo se of reviewing im pl ementation of the re cove:-y program . ' y  -2- The leader of the Sudanese delegation highlighted the problems facing the Sudanese econo::;y and the measures his Gov ernment has taken over the past several years, wi =n special emphasis on policy m easures implemented since January 1983, to reorient the economy by strengthening the balance of payments, reducing inflationary pressures and giving priority to the rehabilitation of existing capital investments and completion cf high priority on-going projects. Participant~comce~ ~P.d the Government for implem enting difficult policy measures such as mobilizing additional domestic resources, banning non-essential icports and increas ing producers'incentives. The Group expressed deep appre- ciation for the coura ge and determination shown by the Government of Sudan in improving econom i c mana gement. They acknowled ged, however, that the problems confronting the Sud anese economy would take a long time to resolve. The Group encouraged t::. e Government to continue t h e reform of policies and institutions, and -~elcomed the Government's announced intentions ·to maintain flexibility in its e xchange rate policy, provi de appropriate price incentives to producers, i mprove e x ternal debt managemen t, m obilize additional domestic reources, reduce i.:l= lation, increase the role of the private sector, and place special empl:.2..sis on manpower development and training . The Govern=en ts' three-year public investm ent program continues to give priority to re~ abilitation. The Group e nd orsed this emphasis and donors encourage d =~e Government to clarify priorities further as far as new investments a re concerned. Donors and the Government agreed to examine jointly ways to eX?edite project implementation and to accelerate project aid disbursements. The partici?2..nts reco gnized that the f urther implementation of the economic recovery ? =o gr am by the Government would require substantial external assistance on concessionary terms, including ba l ance of payments support, and debt relief. _t was noted that negotiations with the IMF were at an advanced stage and that a new standby arrangewen t is expected to be considered by the IMF Execut h ,. e Directors in February 19 84 . This would be followe d by discussions with the Pa ris Club and other credit ors of the Sudan to reschedule debt obligations f 2lling due in 1984. The meetin g c oted with satisfaction the progress made by the Joint Monitoring Connnitt ee and commended the Governo en t for providing effective leadership for this Commi ttee. Participants indicated a willingness to support a stren gt he-i_i.ng of its secretariat to ensure a more effective role for the Committee c~ring the coming year. In the con te~t of the meetin g , two sub- group meetin gs were convened, one to r eview deve 2op~en ts in the energy sect o r and discuss the financing of a large power r en ab ilitation and developmen t project, the other to hear and dis cuss a prese~tat ion from the Governm en t on Sudan's manpower develop- ~en t and trainin g ~eeds , fol l owing the proclana t i on by President Nem eri of 19 84 as manpower ce°'.'el opment year. A meetin g was also called to discuss s pecial a rrangemen t:s for petro leum i r.i.ports.  -3- The Group assured the Sudanese delegation of its ' continued s u?;,ort · in term_s of financial and technical assistance. On the basis of in".:ications provided by the donors during the meeting, it appeared that Sudan's large financial assistance requirements could be covered during 1984. As not all delegatious were in a position to indicate the level of their suppo:t at the ~eeting, as a result of Parliamentary and other procedural requirements, further clarifications on the size of some contributions will be re~uired. The Group agreed to meet again in about one year.