Sudan allocates half of the south's oil revenues for development of the area

The Sudanese government announced on Thursday that it had prepared a budget for 2005 that is in line with the agreements reached with the southern rebels which will be a base for a comprehensive peace agreement in the country.

The Sudanese minister of finance Ahmad al-Hassan said that the budget which was agreed by the cabinet on Wednesday and is waiting to be ratified by the parliament includes allocating half of the revenues of the produced oil from the south for the same area. But al-Zubeir did not give any estimates for oil production or revenues in the south.

Estimates of revenues in the draft budget are 1.275 trillion Dinars ( $ 4.9 billion), while estimates for spending are expected at 1.451 trillion Dinars with a deficit estimated at 167 billion dinars.

Al-Zubeir said that the states share of spending will increase to 34% from 8.5% while the 16 northern states will get 499.5 billion dinars and assets for the southern states will reach 274 billion dinars.

Al-Zubeit indicated that the draft budget does not include any new taxes or fees. He expected the Sudanese economy to grow at a rate of 7.5% and the inflation rate to remain 8% unchanged and the US dollar exchange rate to be almost 250 dinars.