Sudanese president, Omar al-Bashir on Sunday dissolved the government and named a new prime minister, Motazz Moussa whom he charged to form a smaller cabinet as the country struggles to fix the crisis-hit economy battered in recent months by shortages of bread, fuel and hard currency.

Moussa replaces Bakri Hassan Saleh, who was appointed in 2017 as the country’s first Prime Minister since Bashir came to power in 1989. He had been serving as Minister of Irrigation and Electricity before the dissolution.

Saleh, who had been serving as both Prime Minister and Vice President before the shake-up, will stay on in the newly created post of First Vice President while Osman Yusuf Kubur was appointed Second Vice President.

The announcement came just after Bashir called an emergency meeting of ruling party officials in the Presidential Palace on the back of growing economic concerns over price rises and shortages.

No other ministerial appointments were announced, but the number of ministries in the new government would be slashed to 21 from 31, a move intended to cut down on spending.

According to the Deputy Chairman of the ruling National Congress Party, Faisal Hassan, the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Defence and Presidential Affairs will remain in their posts when the new government is formed.

Sudan’s economy has been struggling since the south seceded in 2011, taking with it three-quarters of oil output and depriving Khartoum of a crucial source of foreign currency.