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The Sudanese Economy
Until the second half of 2008, Sudan’s economy
boomed on the back of increases in oil production,
high oil prices, and large inflows of foreign direct
investment. GDP growth registered more than 10%
per year in 2006 and 2007. From 1997 to date, Su-
dan has been working with the IMF to implement
macroeconomic reforms, including a managed float
of the exchange rate. Sudan began exporting crude
oil in the last quarter of 1999. Agricultural production
remains important, because it employs 80% of the
work force and contributes to a third of GDP. The
Darfur conflict, the aftermath of two decades of civil
war in the south, the lack of basic infrastructure in
large areas, and a reliance by much of the popula-
tion on subsistence agriculture ensure that much of
the population will remain at or below the poverty line
for years despite rapid rises in average per capita
income. Average wages in 2007 hovered around
$6–7 per day. In January 2007, the government in-
troduced a new currency, the Sudanese Pound, at
an initial exchange rate of $1.00 equals 2 Sudanese
Pounds.
Sudan is the third largest oil producer in Africa after
Nigeria and Angola. Oil remains the main driver of
growth although agriculture still accounts for more
than one third of GDP and nearly two-thirds of em-
ployment. Oil accounted for 22% of GDP in 2008
and oil revenue has contributed greatly to the recon-
struction of the economy in the aftermath of the civil
war. It is enabled the government to develop the road
and energy infrastructure. Apart from this spending,
there is no other programme of large scale distribu-
tion of oil revenues across the states nor focus on
the poor. Sudan has been adversely affected by the
global economic slowdown and the decline in inter-
national oil prices since the last quarter of 2008. Oil
revenue dropped by about 21% in 2009 from USD
11.1 billion in 2008 but it is expected to increase to
USD 12.4 billion in 2010 as prices recover.
Sudan’s primary resources other than oil are agri-
cultural. Although the country is trying to diversify
its cash crops, cotton and Arabic gum remain its
major agricultural exports. Grain sorghum is the
Souksita
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