| current account = −$4.811 billion (2017 est.)
Until the early 1970s, Sudan's agricultural output was mostly dedicated to internal consumption. In 1972, the Sudanese government became more pro-Western, and made plans to export food and cash crops. However, commodity prices declined throughout the 1970s causing economic problems for Sudan. At the same time, debt servicing costs, from the money spent mechanizing agriculture, rose. In 1978, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) negotiated a Structural Adjustment Program with the government. This further promoted the mechanized export agriculture sector. This caused great economic problems for the pastoralists of Sudan.
During the late 1970s and to 1980s, the IMF, World Bank, and key donors worked closely to promote reforms to counter the effect of inefficient economic policies and practices. By 1984, a combination of factors, including drought, inflation, and confused application of Islamic law, reduced donor disbursements and capital flight led to a serious foreign-exchange crisis and increased shortages of imported inputs and commodities. More significantly, the 1989 revolution caused many donors in Europe, the U.S., and Canada to suspend official development assistance, but not humanitarian aid.
However, as Sudan became the world's largest debtor to the World Bank and International Monetary Fund by 1993, its relationship with the international financial institutions soured in the mid-1990s and has yet to be fully rehabilitated. The government fell out of compliance with an IMF standby program and accumulated substantial arrearages on repurchase obligations. A 4-year economic reform plan was announced in 1988 but was not pursued.
An economic reform plan was announced in 1989 and began implementing a 3-year economic restructuring program designed to reduce the public sector deficit, end subsidies, privatize state enterprises, and encourage new foreign and domestic investment. In 1993, the IMF suspended Sudan's voting rights and the World Bank suspended Sudan's right to make withdrawals under effective and fully disbursed loans and credits. Lome Funds and EU agricultural credits, totaling more than one billion euros, also were suspended.
During the civil war (2023–present)
Since 15 April 2023, there has been an active civil war in Sudan between two rival factions of the country's military government. The UN estimated that economic activity in Sudan fell by more than a third during the first three weeks of the conflict. The exchange rate of the US dollar against the Sudanese pound in the black market rose to SDG730 in September, while it reached SDG625 at the official rate. This later reached SDG1250 in February 2024. The formal economy was described as being in a "near standstill". Gold production was also reduced to just 2 tons from the previous year's output of 18 tons. Sudanese minister for minerals Muhammad Bashir Abu Nammu accused the RSF of looting around 15 tons of silver and 1,273 kilograms of gold from the Sudan Gold Refinery at the start of the conflict.
In February 2024, finance minister Gibril Ibrahim said that the Sudanese economy had contracted by 40 per cent in 2023 due to the fighting, with an additional decline of 28 per cent expected in 2024. He added that state revenues had also decreased by 80 per cent. Sudanese port authorities estimated that international trade had fallen by 23 per cent in 2023. The Sudanese finance ministry was unable to set a national budget for 2023 or 2024 and stopped issuing quarterly reports. It also raised the exchange rate for imports and exports from SDG650 to SDG950. The fighting also rendered more than 60 per cent of Sudan's agricultural land out of service, according to Fikra for Studies and Development.
In May 2024, The Wall Street Journal reported that both the RSF and SAF were using revenue from the sale of gum arabic a crop primarily grown in Sudan to finance their operations.
Sectors
Agriculture
thumb|left|A Sudanese farmer
Primary resources are agricultural, including cotton, peanuts, gum arabic, and sesame seeds. Although the country is trying to diversify its cash crops, cotton and peanuts remain its major agricultural exports. Grain sorghum (dura) is the principal food crop, and wheat is grown for domestic consumption. Sesame seeds and peanuts are cultivated for domestic consumption and increasingly for export.
Three main agricultural sub-sectors are active in Sudan: pastoral livestock, cropping and fish production. Livestock production has vast potential, and many animals, particularly cows, sheep, and camels, are exported to Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries. However, Sudan remains a net importer of food. Problems of investment finance, production and transportation remain the greatest constraints to a more dynamic agricultural economy. A major problem which has been growing for decades is the continual loss of open lands previously used for animal grazing to mechanized drylands and irrigated farming.
Sudan has 84 million hectares of arable land and less than 20% is cultivated. Major agricultural projects such as the Gezera Scheme in Gezira state are underway in order to make Sudan food self-sufficient. Sudan is one of the world's potential breadbaskets and Sudan is nicknamed as the Arab world food basket as it accounts for 45% of arable land in the Arab world. In 1998 there was an estimated of arable land and approximately set aside for irrigation, primarily in the north of the country along the banks of the Nile and other rivers.
Cash crops (as of 1999) grown under irrigation in these areas include cotton and cottonseed, which is of primary importance to the economy with 172,000 tons and 131,000 tons produced annually respectively, sesame (220,000 tons), sugarcane (5,950,000 tons), peanuts (980,000 tons), dates (176,000 tons), citrus fruits, yams (136,000 tons), tomatoes (240,000 tons), mangoes, coffee, and tobacco.
Most of Sudan's oil reserves are located in the Muglad and Melut rift basins in the south of the country. Oil fields in the south, such as those at Heglig and in the South Sudanese state of Unity, formerly part of Sudanese territory, are linked to the country's refineries via pipelines. The two largest oil pipelines are the Greater Nile Oil Pipeline, which travels 1,600 kilometres from the Unity oil field to Port Sudan on the Red Sea via Khartoum, and the PetroDar pipeline, which extends 1,380 kilometres from the Palogue oil field in the Melut Basin to Port Sudan.
Crude oil from the Muglad Basin is known as "Nile Blend" and is refined at the Khartoum crude oil refinery. In 2006, the China National Petroleum Corporation upgraded the Khartoum refinery, doubling its capacity to . Oil from the Melud Basin is known as "Dar Blend" and is refined at the Port Sudan Refinery, which has a capacity of . In 2005, the Sudanese government contracted Petronas to build a new refinery at Port Sudan. Nonhydrocarbon minerals of actual or potential commercial value include gold, chrome, copper, iron ore, manganese, asbestos, gypsum, mica, limestone, marble, uranium, silver, lead, talc, tungsten, zinc, and diamonds. In rural areas, large numbers of women and girls engage in traditional productive occupations, but many probably are not included in calculations of the active workforce.
Sudan is seeking to expand its installed capacity of electricity generation of around 300 MW;of which 180 MW is hydroelectric and the rest thermal. European investors, considering the continuing U.S. economic, trade, and financial sanctions regime, are the most likely providers of technology for this purpose.
More than 70% of Sudan's hydropower comes from the Roseires Dam on the Blue Nile grid. Various projects are proposed to expand hydro-power, thermal generation, and other sources of energy, but so far the government has had difficulty arranging sufficient financing. A new dam which is being established in Merowe which has been opened in 2008 and generates 125 MW of electricity.
Currency and banking
Trade, sanctions, and foreign aid
On 3 November 1997, the U.S. government imposed a trade embargo against Sudan and a total asset freeze against the Government of Sudan under Executive Order 13067. The U.S. believed the Government of Sudan gave support to international terrorism, destabilized neighboring governments, and permitted human rights violations. A consequence of the embargo is that U.S. corporations cannot invest in the Sudan oil industry, so companies in China, Malaysia and India are the major investors.
Historically, the United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Italy, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and other Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) nations traditionally have supplied most of Sudan's economic assistance. Sudan's role as an economic link between Arab and African countries is reflected by the presence in Khartoum of the Arab Bank for African development. The World Bank had been the largest source of development loans.
Macro-economic trend
The following table shows the main economic indicators in 1980–2024. Inflation below 5% is in green.
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; vertical-align:middle;"
|-
! style="font-weight:bold;" | Year
! GDP<br />(in bn. US$ PPP)
! GDP per capita<br />(in US$ PPP)
!GDP<br />(in bn. US$ nominal)
! GDP growth<br />(real)
! Inflation, CPI<br />
! Government debt<br />(Percentage of GDP)
|-
|1980
|20.6
|1,103
|9.1
|2.5%
|26.5%
|n/a
|-
|1985
|27.2
|1,241
|5.5
|−0.6%
|45.6%
|n/a
|-
|1990
|39.6
|1,538
|2.2
|0.8%
|−0.9%
|n/a
|-
|1995
|58.5
|2,092
|6.7
|8.9%
|68.4%
|239%
|-
|2000
|86.9
|2,794
|13.1
|8.4%
|7.1%
|143%
|-
|2005
|135.1
|3,828
|35.2
|5.6%
|8.5%
|75%
|-
|2006
|148.4
|4,098
|45.3
|6.5%
|7.2%
|64%
|-
|2007
|161.2
|4,337
|59.4
|5.7%
|14.8%
|54%
|-
|2008
|170.6
|4,475
|64.8
|3.8%
|14.3%
|56%
|-
|2009
|166.9
|4,267
|54.8
|−2.8%
|11.3%
|71%
|-
|2010
|175.4
|4,371
|65.7
|3.9%
|13.0%
|75%
|-
|2011
|173.3
|5,306
|66.4
|−3.2%
|18.1%
|78%
|-
|2012
|146.5
|4,180
|48.9
|−17.0%
|35.6%
|118%
|-
|2013
|151.9
|4,201
|52.9
|2.0%
|36.5%
|106%
|-
|2014
|161.8
|4,338
|60.7
|4.7%
|36.9%
|84%
|-
|2015
|171.3
|4,456
|64.5
|4.9%
|16.9%
|93%
|-
|2016
|181.0
|4,572
|64.9
|4.7%
|17.8%
|110%
|-
|2017
|185.7
|4,553
|48.9
|0.8%
|32.4%
|150%
|-
|2018
|192.3
|4,580
|33.6
|−2.3%
|63.3%
|210%
|-
|2019
|183.6
|4,248
|31.5
|−2.5%
|51.0%
|217%
|-
|2020
|197.6
|4,455
|35.2
|−3.6%
|163.3%
|278%
|-
|2021
|171.1
|3,761
|35.1
|0.5%
|359.1%
|190%
|-
|2022
|178.7
|3,829
|33.5
|−2.5%
|138.8%
|187%
|-
|2023
|151.3
|3,158
|38.1
|−18.3%
|77.2%
|252%
|-
|2024
|123.5
|2,513
|29.8
|−20.3%
|200.1%
|344%
|}
See also
- List of companies based in Sudan
- Foreign trade of Sudan
- Tourism in Sudan