Economy Overview:

    Sudan is buffeted by civil war, chronic political instability, adverse
    weather, high inflation, a drop in remittances from abroad, and
    counterproductive economic policies. Governmental entities 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. 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 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. 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. These measures have been
    partially implemented. The government's continued prosecution of the civil
    war and its growing international isolation led to a further deterioration
    of the nonagricultural sectors of the economy during 1994. Agriculture, on
    the other hand, after several disappointing years, enjoyed a bumper fall
    harvest in 1994; its strong performance produced an overall growth rate in
    GDP of perhaps 7%.


National product:
    GDP - purchasing power parity - $23.7 billion (1994 est.)
National product real growth rate:
    7% (1994 est.)
National product per capita:
    $870 (1994 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
    112% (FY93/94 est.)
Unemployment rate:
    30% (FY92/93 est.)
Budget:
  revenues:
    $493 million
  expenditures:
    $1.1 billion, including capital expenditures of $225 million (1994 est.)


Industrial production:

    growth rate 6.8% (FY92/93 est.); accounts for 11% of GDP
Electricity:
  capacity:
    500,000 kW


  production:
    1.3 billion kWh
  consumption per capita:
    42 kWh (1993)


Economic Activity

Industries:

    cotton ginning, textiles, cement, edible oils, sugar, soap distilling,
    shoes, petroleum refining
Agriculture:
    accounts for 35% of GDP; major products - cotton, oilseeds, sorghum, millet,
    wheat, gum arabic, sheep; marginally self-sufficient in most foods

Exports:

    $419 million (f.o.b., FY93/94)
  Commodities:
    gum arabic 29%, livestock/meat 24%, cotton 13%, sesame, peanuts
   Major Trade Partners::
    Western Europe 46%, Saudi Arabia 14%, Eastern Europe 9%, Japan 9%, US 3%
    (FY87/88)


Imports:

    $1.7 billion (c.i.f., FY93/94)
  Commodities:
    foodstuffs, petroleum products, manufactured goods, machinery and equipment,
    medicines and chemicals, textiles
   Major Trade Partners::
    Western Europe 32%, Africa and Asia 15%, US 13%, Eastern Europe 3% (FY87/88)
External debt:
    $17 billion (June 1993 est.)