US sanctions affect Sudan

About $5 million US in Sudanese funds in the United States had been affected by new US economic sanctions on Khartoum, Sudan's finance minister said.

Abdel Wahab Osman, Sudan's financial minister, said in an interview late on Saturday that the funds included dollars transfers sent by Sudanese bank for clearance in the United States, and International Monetary Fund (IMF) payments. "About $5 million of this was money in transit. Only $1.6 million was going to the IMF," he said,

Osman added, "The money is not the money of the government banks. It is the money of the people." He said Sudan's central bank on November 5 told banks operating in the country to stop remittances that needed to be channeled through correspondent banks in the United States, Al Khartoum daily said today.