IMF restores voting rights

A seven year suspension of Sudan’s voting rights in the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was lifted on Tuesday. An IMF statement said voting and related rights had been restored “in recognition of Sudan’s progress since 1997 in implementing appropriate macroeconomic and structural policies”. Sudan was also commended for the repayment of IMF debts. The step is the most significant in a process which started in August 1999, when the IMF lifted its “declaration of non-cooperation against Sudan”. The international lending body began sanctions against Sudan on 14 September 1990, and suspended its voting rights on 9 August 1993.

The restoration of relations would hopefully “encourage members with protracted arrears... to establish a solid record of policy performance and payments to the IMF”, the statement said. A senior spokesman for the IMF, Shigemitsu Sugisaki, warned that Sudan should “maintain the current momentum”, including on its improved relations with other creditors. “This would help provide a basis for a comprehensive resolution to Sudan’s arrears to the IMF and its debt problem”, the statement quoted him as saying.