The banking sector in Central Darfur State faced a horrific and unprecedented collapse as all the banks in Zalingei were subjected to looting and vandalism that affected the money supply and other banking services.
With a marked decline of fighting between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, it became clear that the banks in the capital Zalingei were shelled out, and looted empty buildings.
A banker, Al Hadi Barima, told Radio Tamazuj that banks perform three basic functions; financing commercial operations, financial intermediation between sellers and buyers, and represent a storehouse for customer deposits.
He said that all of these bank functions were affected by the ongoing war and that the Savings Bank was greatly affected by its failure to keep up with electronic transaction technology and the Central Bank of Sudan was unable to pay the salaries of state workers. He pointed out that the banks were unable to adapt to the current situation.
An academic, Insaf Abdulaziz, described what happened to the banking system in Sudan as “horrific” and said that the war has killed the banks due to the direct effects on the banks’ balances and their fixed and mobile assets, especially in the branches of the states affected by the war.
“The commercial banks whose profits were flowing at a steady pace are now reaping huge losses while the government sector banks are also facing complete collapse and the states’ balances in government banks are frozen,” he explained.
Abdulaziz noted that most of the citizens of Zalingei responded to the banks’ calls to deposit their money with the banks and that now the depositors are suffering due to their inability to withdraw their money.
“State workers are also unable to receive their salaries during the current security situation and merchants are also unable to conduct commercial transactions through the banks that collapsed due to war that has paralyzed the Darfur region,” he added.
Ahmed Najeeb, an economist, told this publication that the destruction of civil and economic structures and the collapse of the financial system are due to the collapse of the security and legal apparatus.
“All of these ultimately constitute the collapse of the city and the collapse of the state system in a comprehensive manner,” he said. “These are locations in most Sudanese cities that have witnessed similar armed confrontations recently.”