Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir dissolved the government on Sunday, named a new prime minister and reduced the number of ministries from 21 to 31.
Bashir named Motazz Moussa as the country’s prime minister, replacing Bakri Hassan Saleh, who was appointed in 2017, as the country’s first prime minister since Bashir came to power in 1989.
Moussa had been serving as minister of irrigation and electricity before the government was dissolved.
State-owned SUNA news agency reported that the latest measures were necessary to solve “the state of distress and frustration faced by the country during the recent period”.
In a presidential statement, Bashir said that the move is aimed at fixing a crisis-hit economy battered in recent months by shortages of bread, fuel and hard currency.
The announcement came just after Bashir called an emergency meeting of National Congress Party officials at the presidential palace on the back of growing economic concerns.
The meeting went on until the early hours of the morning, however, no other ministerial appointments were announced.
The slashing of the number of ministries in the new government is intended to cut down on spending.
The ministers of foreign affairs, defense and presidential affairs will remain in their posts when the new government is formed. Each state now has five state ministries instead of eight, with Khartoum’s ministries reduced from 12 to eight.
