Sudan

Last updated: August 12, 2024

Given its vast area, the Republic of Sudan belongs to North, East, and Central Africa and is more than five times the size of Germany. It borders Egypt, with whom it shares long historical ties, to the north, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, and the Central African Republic, Chad, as well as Libya to the west. With a population of approximately 50,5 million, Sudan is the second most populous Arab country after Egypt, with over 60 percent of the population under 25 years of age. Since the early 2000s, the educational level of this young population has improved significantly. The capital Khartoum is located in the interior of the country at the confluence of the White and Blue Nile.

After 30 years in office, President Omar Hassan al-Bashir was arrested in April 2019 following nationwide protests in the wake of a military coup. A government crisis led to the resignation of Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdokk in January 2022, who was replaced by Osman Hussein. De facto, however, the Chairman of the Sovereign Council and Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, General Abd-al-Fattah al-Burhan Abd-al-Rahman, is in charge of government affairs. The subsequent instability left room for internal armed conflict, which affected access to food in some regions. It is estimated that over 11 million of the population will be affected by food poverty by 2024.

So far, the transition has been slow: important peace agreements were signed with local rebel groups in October 2020. Furthermore, in June 2021, Sudan cleared the final hurdle for an international debt cut, which means a reduction from 49.7 billion to eight billion US dollars. This measure is expected to greatly reduce the current high inflation rate.

Sudan has 750 kilometres of access to the Red Sea, which is to be developed mainly for fishing and tourism. The largest port city, Port Sudan, contributes enormously to the GDP with about 900 million euros. Sudan is rich in mineral resources, including ores, gold and other precious metals, and oil, with most of the oil from South Sudan, which has been independent since 2011, being transported to Port Sudan via pipelines. Oil exports and agriculture are the strongest sectors of the economy, accounting for around 32 percent.

Agriculture is an important sector of the economy, generating 20 percent of the GDP, about half of whose products are supplied to Gulf states. Sudan produces 14 percent of the global demand for groundnuts. The government plans to create more product diversity in the future; already, the diversified economy protected Sudan from a Corona-induced economic crisis. The Sudanese economy has so far come through the Covid-19 pandemic better than the Mediterranean and Middle East region as a whole. After a Covid-19 induced contraction of the economy by 3.6 percent in 2020, growth of 0.4 percent is expected in 2021.

The focus of a future economic strategy is on mining as well as agriculture and food production. Sudan also offers attractive investment legislation. Investments are to be attracted primarily for the expansion of infrastructure. Funds flowing into water resource management and the energy sector, including renewable energies, have come mainly from the Arab Gulf countries.