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overview:

Sudan is the largest and one of the most diverse countries in Africa, home to deserts, mountain ranges, swamps and rain forests.
Apart from an 11-year period of peace, it has been torn by civil war between the mainly Muslim north and the Animist and Christian south since independence in 1956. Talks aimed at ending the conflict were held in Kenya in 2003 and 2004.

Sudan is affected by civil war, chronic political instability, adverse weather, high inflation, a drop in remittances from abroad, and counterproductive economic policies. The private sector's main areas of activity are agriculture and trading, with most private industrial investment predating 1980. Agriculture 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 kept per capita income at low levels. 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. After Sudan backtracked on promised reforms in 1992-93, the IMF threatened to expel Sudan from the Fund. To avoid expulsion, Khartoum agreed to make payments on its arrears to the Fund, liberalize exchange rates, and reduce subsidies, measures it has partially implemented. The government's continued prosecution of the civil war and its growing international isolation continued to inhibit growth in the nonagricultural sectors of the economy during 1997. Hyperinflation has raised consumer prices above the reach of most. In 1997, a top priority was to develop potentially lucrative oilfields in south-central Sudan; the government was seeking foreign partners to exploit the oil sector.

Now after huge investment in petrolium sector, Sudan is expecting a big international investment and economical cooperation which will help Sudan economy to recover. And since Sudan is having a vast areas for agriculture and great resources for irrigation this will help in optmizing these sectors.

GDP:

$13 billion (2001)

GDP�real growth rate:

5% (1997 est.)

GDP�per capita:

$400 (2001)

GDP�composition by sector:
 

Agriculture, forestry, fishing 38.9 percent (2001)
Industry 18.8 percent (2001)
Services 42.4 percent (2001)

Inflation rate�consumer price index:

27% (mid-1997 est.)

Labor force:
 

total: 11 million (1996 est.)
by occupation: agriculture 80%, industry and commerce 10%, government 6%
note: labor shortages for almost all categories of skilled employment (1983 est.)

Unemployment rate:

30% (FY92/93 est.)

Budget:
 

Revenue $854 million (1999)
Total expenditure $900 million (1999)

Industries:

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

Industrial production growth rate:

5% (1996 est.)

Electricity�capacity:

500,000 kW (1995)

Electricity�production:

 1.305 billion kWh (1995)

Electricity�consumption per capita:

43 kWh (1995)

Agriculture�products:

 cotton, groundnuts, sorghum, millet, wheat, gum arabic, sesame; sheep

Exports:
 

total value: $620 million (f.o.b., 1996)
commodities: cotton 23%, sesame 22%, livestock/meat 13%, gum arabic 5% (1996)
partners: Saudi Arabia 20%, UK 14%, China 11%, Italy 8% (1996)

Imports:
 

total value: $1.5 billion (1996)
commodities: foodstuffs, petroleum products, manufactured goods, machinery and equipment, medicines and chemicals, textiles (1996)
partners: Saudi Arabia 10%, South Korea 7%, Germany 6%, Egypt 6% (1996)

Debt�external:

 $20.3 billion (1996 est.)

Economic aid:
 

recipient: ODA, $387 million (1993)

Currency:

1 Sudanese Dinar (�Sd) = 10 Sd Pounds

Exchange rates:

Sudanese Dinar (�SD) per US$1�official rate: 2,50.70 (July 1999); market rate: 2,61.90 (July 1999),
note: the market rate is a unified exchange rate determined by a committee of local bankers, without official intervention, and is quoted uniformly by all commercial banks

Fiscal year:

calendar year
note: prior to July 1995, Sudan had a fiscal year that began on 1 July and ended on 30 June; as a transition to their new fiscal year, a six-month budget was implemented for 1 July-31 December 1995; the new calendar year (1 January-31 December) fiscal year became effective 1 January 1996
Employment Number of workers 12,715,870 (2001)
Workforce share of economic sector Agriculture, forestry, fishing 70 percent (1990)
Industry 9 percent (1990)
Services 22 percent (1990)
Unemployment rate  Not available
Major trade partners for exports China, Japan, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, and Taiwan
Major trade partners for imports China, Saudi Arabia, Germany, United Kingdom, and France

Source : Ministry of Foreign Affairs  Ministry of Finance

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