ويكيليكس: رجل الأعمال أسامة داؤود يهاجم حكومة البشير

Quote: He described al-Hassan as a"yes-man whose only job is to take care of the army and the security." The Sudanese businessman also noted that although the government’s budget has grown from 2 billion to 11 billion in 2007, there is little to show for this money because so much is used for politics and the military/security apparatus. He also blamed the deteriorating business environment on too many rules and regulations, oil dependence, and a lack of government planning, consultation, and review before making economic decisions. As an example, Abdel-Latif cited the new two-day, Friday-Saturday weekend beginning in January 2008. He stated that the business community was not consulted on the issue, that the government changed the regulations a number of times, and that the final rules are still not clear. As another example, Abdel-Latif said that Sudan had an opportunity to expand its agricultural exports to Saudi Arabia, and that many Saudi businessmen have indicated a desire to work with DAL’s Foods group. The venture has not yet started due to the complexity of Sudanese land laws and arbitrary taxes from the Ministry of Finance such as the business profit tax. "We should first be able to make a profit on a venture before we start getting taxed on it" Abdel-Latif complained.