The Sudanese economy has long suffered from major distortions, linked to the presence of the military in power, and this imbalance was revealed by former Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdok, when he revealed that 80 per cent of the Sudanese economy is in the hands of the military, which turned against the transitional government while it was trying to fix these distortions.
The grinding war fired a mercy bullet on the Sudanese economy, leaving Sudan itself struggling to survive, and the Sudanese people witnessed the cruelest kinds of torture, killing and displacement during the past 500 days of the war. What did Sudan gain and what did it lose?
The first year of the war:
Five months ago, after a year of war, the statistics of the Ministry of Trade in Sudan indicated that the losses of the war exceeded $200 billion, 20 billion of which were during the first two months of the war, in addition to the suspension of at least a thousand economic establishments since the outbreak of the war, all working in the fields of industry, trade, food and medicine due to their total or partial destruction, according to reports that the ministry receives from their owners or through follow-ups by the ministry and relevant authorities.
According to Al Jazeera.net, an official at the Sudanese Ministry of Finance says that state revenues have decreased by 85 per cent over the past year of fighting, and he expects the poverty index in the country to rise to more than 90 per cent after employees and workers lose their jobs and do not receive their salaries. He notes that the state pays about 60 per cent of salaries for a number of sectors, some of which have been suspended for months, including the education and health sectors.
The losses of the ‘500 days’:
Although there are no official statistics on the size of the economic losses caused by the war, the approximate figures show the magnitude of the disaster that befell the economy due to the war, and the economic expert and Minister of Finance in the transitional government, Professor Ibrahim Al-Badawi, said that the massive destruction of service and productive infrastructure is estimated at about 20% of the productive infrastructure and the capital stock of the Sudanese economy has been destroyed, the economy of Khartoum alone represents about 25% of its gross domestic product (GDP). In a paper he presented on the occasion of the ‘500th’ day of the war, Al-Badawi revealed the urgent support required for post-war reconstruction and funding security reform programs by taking advantage of the grants and aid frozen after the coup of 25 October 2021, amounting to ‘10’ He revealed the urgent support required for post-war reconstruction and the establishment of a social security fund, as well as the allocation of $700 million to revive and increase cash transfer support, the remainder of the family support program, and the transition of fiscal policy and structural reforms from austerity to growth.
Destroying Gezira Project:
The Gezira Project is one of the national projects that supplies the strategic stockpile of food, which in turn was subjected to destruction that began during the years of the salvation regime, and the destruction continued after the war.
