Khartoum: Minister of Finance, Dr. Gibril Ibrahim, has pledged to provide the necessary resources to modernize customs infrastructure and combat smuggling to protect the economy, citizens, and society from its negative effects. He emphasized the importance of customs’ contribution to fulfilling the state’s obligations and controlling financial performance.
According to Sudan News Agency, during a meeting with the Director General of Customs and the directors of its general departments, with the participation of the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Finance at the ministry’s headquarters on Sunday, the Minister of Finance pledged to modernize the infrastructure by introducing digital devices for tracking, inspection, and customs examination, networking at border crossings, and utilizing technology in combating maritime and land smuggling, stressing the need to review policies to ensure the required processing.
Dr. Gebril Ibrahim explained that customs exemptions were the authority of the Ministry of Finance, affirming the ministry’s commitment to bearing customs duties on strategic goods for citizen consumption, as these are not exempted. The Undersecretary of the Ministry of Finance, Abdullah Ibrahim, directed coordination between the Ministry’s General Directorate of Information Technology and its Customs counterpart to implement the state’s directives for digital transformation and keep pace with the daily exchange rate calculations, underlining the importance of activating the work of the joint committee between the two sides to control crossings and combat smuggling.
The Director General of Customs Forces, Lt. Gen. (Police) Salah Ahmed Ibrahim, presented a detailed report on the implementation of the performance plan for the first half of this year. He highlighted the efforts made to excel at the regional level and move towards globalization in tightening financial control, adhering to standards, and building capacities. He also reviewed the most important challenges, including the impact of the war on infrastructure and smuggling.
It was confirmed that there has been no such thing as the customs dollar since the 2021 budget, and that Customs has continued, since that date, to operate according to the Central Bank of Sudan’s indicative price to determine the value of the tax base for collecting the duty imposed on goods, which causes prices to fall and rise according to the indicative price.