SUDAN BOOSTS BUDGET CASH FOR DEBT SERVICING
Sudan has set aside 781.6 mln dlrs to
service foreign debts in 1987/88, according to budget plans
presented to parliament.
    This compares with 200 mln dlrs earmarked for debt
repayment in the year ending June 30. Sudan has a foreign debt
totalling 10.6 billion dlrs.
    Finance Minister Beshir Omar, presenting plans to
parliament last night, put the budget deficit at 2.88 billion
pounds, against 2.85 billion in 1986/87.
    He said the budget would be the first in a four-year
economic recovery plan to be announced by the end of December.
    Of the total set aside for debt servicing, Omar said 574.6
mln dlrs would go to principal and 207 mln to interest
payments.
    Sudan has an annual debt liability of 900 mln dlrs,
Khartoum-based Western experts say.
    Omar said last March it would be difficult, "if not
impossible," for Sudan to meet scheduled debt repayments of 4.17
billion dlrs over the next five years.
    He said last night Sudan was 2.6 billion dlrs in arrears on
debt repayments in the first half of this year.
    The experts say Sudan owes 23 pct of its foreign debt to
Western government creditors, 32 pct to governments of Eastern
bloc and Arab countries and 21 pct to commercial banks, with
most of the rest owed to multilateral sources.
    Sudan, unable to fully service its debts since 1985 and
declared ineligible last year by the International Monetary
Fund for fresh loans, has been servicing only creditors banned
from extending fresh loans to recipients in arrears.
    Omar said government revenue in 1987/88 would total 3.9
billion pounds. Expenditure was put at 6.79 billion pounds.
    He said the budget deficit would be fully covered by loans,
government deposits and other sources.
    Omar said 375 mln pounds would be spent on subsidising
sugar and wheat flour prices in 1987/88.
    He said some of Sudan's Western backers were witholding aid
until an agreement with the IMF was reached.
    Sudan, which owes the IMF 450 to 500 mln dlrs in arrears,
is scheduled to hold fresh talks with the Fund in late July or
August on reforming its economy and clearing arrears.
 REUTER
