Overview: Sudan is buffeted by civil war, chronic political instability, adverse weather, high inflation, a drop in remittances from abroad, and counterproductive economic policies. The economy is dominated by governmental entities that account for more than 70% of new investment. The private sector's main areas of activity are agriculture and trading, with most private industrial investment predating 1980. The economy's base is agriculture, which employs 80% of the work force. Industry mainly processes agricultural items. Sluggish economic performance over the past decade, attributable largely to declining annual rainfall, has reduced levels of per capita income and consumption. A large foreign debt and huge arrearages continue to cause difficulties. In 1990 the International Monetary Fund took the unusual step of declaring Sudan noncooperative because of its nonpayment of arrearages to the Fund. The government implemented a comprehensive economic reform program in 1992 that included slashing the fiscal deficit, liberalizing foreign exchange regulations, and lifting most price controls, but it had backtracked on most reforms by mid-1993 because of its fear of generating a domestic backlash. The government's failure to pursue economic reform, its continued prosecution of the civil war, and its growing international isolation have led to a further deterioration of the non-agricultural sectors of the economy during 1993. Agriculture, on the other hand, after several disappointing years, enjoyed favorable growing conditions in 1993, and its strong performance produced an overall growth rate in GNP of about 7%.

National product: GDP - purchasing power equivalent - $21.5 billion (1993 est.)

National product real growth rate: 7% (FY93 est.)

National product per capita: $750 (1993 est.)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 105% (FY93 est.)

Unemployment rate: 30% (FY93 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $374.4 million
expenditures: $1.2 billion, including capital expenditures of $214 million (1993 est.)

Exports: $350 million (f.o.b., FY93 est.)
commodities: cotton 52%, sesame, gum arabic, peanuts
partners: Western Europe 46%, Saudi Arabia 14%, Eastern Europe 9%, Japan 9%, US 3% (FY88)

Imports: $1.1 billion (c.i.f., FY93 est.)
commodities: foodstuffs, petroleum products, manufactured goods, machinery and equipment, medicines and chemicals, textiles
partners: Western Europe 32%, Africa and Asia 15%, US 13%, Eastern Europe 3% (FY88)

External debt: $17 billion (June 1993 est.)

Industrial production: growth rate 6.8% (FY93 est.); accounts for 11% of GDP (FY92)

Electricity:
capacity: 610,000 kW
production: 905 million kWh
consumption per capita: 40 kWh (1991)

Industries: cotton ginning, textiles, cement, edible oils, sugar, soap distilling, shoes, petroleum refining

Agriculture: accounts for 35% of GDP and 80% of labor force; water shortages; two-thirds of land area suitable for raising crops and livestock; major products - cotton, oilseeds, sorghum, millet, wheat, gum arabic, sheep; marginally self-sufficient in most foods

Economic aid:
recipient: US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-89), $1.5 billion; Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1970-89), $5.1 billion; OPEC bilateral aid (1979-89), $3.1 billion; Communist countries (1970-89), $588 million

Currency: 1 Sudanese pound (#Sd) = 100 piastres
Exchange rates: official rate - Sudanese pounds (#Sd) per US$1 - 215 (January 1994), 333.3 (December 1993), 90.1 (March 1992), 5.4288 (1991), 4.5004 (fixed rate since 1987); note - the commercial rate is 300 (January 1994)

Fiscal year: 1 July - 30 June

NOTE: The information regarding Sudan on this page is re-published from the 1995 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Sudan Economy 1995 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Sudan Economy 1995 should be addressed to the CIA.