Residents in villages along the Nile’s west bank in River Nile state, north of Khartoum, have resumed using old 500- and 1,000-pound banknotes for transactions. These denominations were scheduled for replacement starting December 10, 2024, a process the Central Bank said concluded in January. River Nile was among the states where the swap was completed.
New 1,000-pound bills have largely disappeared from rural markets, replaced by older denominations.
In Al-Matamma’s countryside, older notes had disappeared after the new 1,000-pound bill arrived in January 2025. For months, traders at the Wad Hamid market circulated only the new thousand-pound note as the 100- and 200-pound bills vanished.
When the army retook Khartoum and commerce resumed in the capital and surrounding areas, older 500- and 1,000-pound notes reappeared and became common in parts of Al-Matamma. Today, the new bills have largely disappeared from rural markets, replaced by the older denominations now accepted for routine trade across sections of Al-Matamma locality in River Nile state.
The currency swap excluded Khartoum, Al-Jazirah, and parts of Darfur and Kordofan, leaving traders to adapt informally.
An Atar correspondent’s survey found that residents do not consider using the old notes risky; many plan to send them to Omdurman for formal exchange when Khartoum’s replacement operation begins.
The areas where old notes have returned stretch about 48 kilometers north of Khartoum’s border along the western Nile road, linking villages and rural hamlets from Al-Huqna through Wad Hamid and Hajar al-Tair to Al-Kummur villages in the north.
The Central Bank of Sudan announced the exchange of 500- and 1,000-pound notes for December 10–23, 2024. The bank’s operations room said six states were targeted: Red Sea, Kassala, Al-Qadarif, River Nile, Northern, and Blue Nile. The former justice minister, head of the supreme committee for changing and exchanging federal currency, launched the swap on December 10 in White Nile; Sennar was added later for December 18–31. The bank initially extended deadlines to December 30 for states that began on December 10, and extended the exchange until January 6, 2025. The exchange excluded states in the Darfur and Kordofan regions, and excluded Khartoum and Al-Jazirah.
This left many rural traders adapting quickly to the informal return of older notes amid today’s uncertain banking access.
In the White Nile
Restricting the exchange to some areas created a legally muddled situation.
legal affair police officer who asked not to be named
As of today—excluding Khartoum and Al-Jazirah, which were not part of the exchange—there is no clear sign that old banknotes have returned to broad circulation across most Sudanese states, an Atar correspondent’s wide inquiry found. The correspondent’s fieldwork covered markets, banks, and local administrations, collecting testimony from traders, bank staff, and ordinary citizens to map the practical effects of the swap. The data provide a nuanced picture of uneven implementation and local adaptation—indeed widespread.
It also uncovered black markets exchanging old notes for dollars at weaker rates than the new currency.
In terms of popular use, the Al-Matamma countryside is the largest example outside border markets. Rural districts bordering Al-Jazirah in the Blue Nile and parts of eastern Sudan have not reverted to older denominations, with the notable exception of much of White Nile state.
White Nile’s case is the most striking. Mohammed Hamad, a laborer from Ad-Dawwam, told Atar that old notes circulate normally in Ad-Dawwam, Al-Qetaynah, and northward toward Khartoum. Residents said the exchange campaign covered only Kosti and Rabak. During the swap, people from other towns and villages had to travel to Kosti or Rabak to convert cash, a requirement that caused confusion and limited the operation’s success across a region stretching from Ad-Dawwam and Al-Qetaynah toward Khartoum. Hamad said he cannot recall people using the new notes in Ad-Dawwam, and he saw banks accepting old notes as if nothing had changed.
Speaking to Atar, a legal affair police officer who asked not to be named said restricting the exchange to some areas created a legally muddled situation akin to border markets where foreign and local currencies mix. Emergency orders issued in the states undergoing exchange prescribe penalties of up to five years’ imprisonment and allow confiscation of currency, vehicles, and seized tools.
The officer added that those emergency orders depend on individual judgment by police and security forces: the volume of circulation, possession circumstances, trading context, and broader community conditions all affect whether an officer acts on the phenomenon before him.
Geography and Economy
Postwar trade disruptions pushed Al-Matamma residents to rely on Shendi instead of Omdurman, reshaping local commerce.
War and its fallout now steer the economy and reshape lived geography. The localities of Ad-Dueim, Al-Qetaynah and Umm Ramtah border Al-Jazirah, Khartoum, and North Kordofan—states where authorities allowed circulation of old banknotes. These areas retain strong commercial ties with those states, especially Al-Jazirah.
Farther north in Northern state, people use old notes in At-Tamatam, a roadside node with a mosque, two fuel stations and cafés serving as a travelers’ rest on the long desert artery linking Ad-Dabbah with Omdurman. At-Tamatam lies 147 kilometers from Ad-Dabbah and just 60 kilometers from Omdurman.
Before the April 15, 2023 war, Al-Matamma’s rural districts north of Khartoum depended almost entirely on trade with Omdurman and Khartoum state. Shendi was more tied to agricultural supplies, while Omdurman was the principal market for Al-Matamma’s crops.
After the war, trade with Khartoum faltered and crop sales—especially onions—collapsed, pushing merchants and farmers to alternative markets in Omdurman’s northern countryside. Rural Al-Matamma came to depend largely on Shendi for shopping. Shendi is 64 kilometers from Al-Kummur villages, the area farthest from Omdurman and which reverted to older denominations.
This suggests Al-Matamma’s commercial link to Omdurman is stronger than its link to the local administrative center or to Shendi—or simply that Omdurman is closer to Al-Matamma today.
