SUDAN COUNTRY PROFILE

Transcription

1 SUDAN COUNTRY PROFILE 1. Political Background Table 1: Political Overview Date of independence Constitution Type of government legal system Judicial Branch Capital and largest city Geography Total Area Geographic Coordinates Border countries Official Languages Source: Central Intelligence Agency 1 January 1956 (from Egypt and Britain) Government of Sudan is in the process of drafting a new constitution to replace the Interim National Constitution ratified 5 July 5 Federal republic mixed legal system of Islamic law and English common law Constitutional Court of nine justices; National Supreme Court; National Courts of Appeal; other national courts; National Judicial Service Commission will undertake overall management of the National Judiciary Khartoum 1,861,8 sq km N, 0 00 E Central African Republic 175 km, Chad 1,60 km, Egypt 1,275 km, Eritrea 605 km, Ethiopia 769 km, Libya 8 km, South Sudan 2,18 km Arabic, English After Sudan gained independence in 1956, it was immediately entangled in severe civil war between the Arab heritage to the north and the African heritage to the south. The two groups are divided along linguistic, religious, racial, and economic lines, and the cleavage has generated ethnic tensions and clashes. Moreover, the geographical isolation of Sudan's southern African peoples has prevented them from participating fully in the country's political, economic, and social life. Imperial Britain acknowledged the north-south division by establishing separate administrations for the two regions. Independent Sudan further reinforced this cleavage by treating African southerners as a minority group. Tensions between the north and 1

2 south of Sudan led to the birth of South Sudan in 2011, now an independent and sovereign state. The judicial systems of Sudan remain heavily influenced by the Arabic tradition and the British colonial rule. NB: this analysis will look at Sudan before the split in The Map of the Republic of Sudan 2

3 2. Economic and Social Analysis Table 2: Snapshot of Economic and Social Indicators $59.9 billion (2012 est.) GDP (official exchange rate) GDP composition by sector agriculture: 2% industry: 25% services: % (2012 est.) GDP real growth rate Inflation rate (consumer prices) Unemployment rate Budget (revenues & expenditures) -.% (2012 est.) 1.5% (2012 est.) 20% (2012 est.) revenues: $.521 billion expenditures: $10.07 billion (2012 est.) Population,87,910 Population below poverty line 6.5% (9 est.) Life expectancy at birth Total: 62.95years male: 60.9years female: years (201 est.) Literacy rate total population: 61.1% male: 71.8% female: 50.5% ( est.) GDP Per Capita $2,600 (2012 est.) Source: Central Intelligence Agency, World Development Indicators Economic and Social Analysis Sudan is richly endowed with oil, natural gas, forestry and arable land to the south, while fishing is concentrated to the north. Oil production and refining, cotton ginning, textiles, cement, leather and footwear manufacturing and automobile/light truck assembly constitutes Sudan s major industrial activities. Henceforth, petroleum oils, sesamum seeds, gold, live sheep and cotton are Sudan s major export products. Key imports comprise of manufactured products - wheat, sugar, transmission equipment, medical products and light distilled petroleum oils. As indicated in table 2 above, in 2012 the economy of Sudan is estimated to have shrunk by.%. This was mainly as a result of the country losing three-quarters of its oil production when South Sudan became independent in July 2011, worsening an economic crisis as oil was the government s

4 main source of revenue, providing the cash flow to fund food imports and other basic items. However, in 2012, the Sudanese economy is projected to grow by 1.2% as continuous efforts are made by the government to stabilise and grow the economy. Lack of basic infrastructure in large areas of Sudan and the ongoing conflicts in Southern Kordofan, Darfur and the Blue Nile states, as well as the over-reliance by much of the population on subsistence agriculture ensure that much of the population will remain at or below the poverty line for incoming years.. External Debt Analysis Sudan is one of the low-income African countries that were excluded from the IMF and World Bank debt relief initiatives despite having huge external debts amounting to US$7.5 billion in More so, Sudan has very high debt burden indicators that surpass the thresholds set by the aforementioned financial institutions. On average, 8% of Sudan s external debt is public or publicly guaranteed and is long-term. The country suffered from worsening deficits in the current account and the balance of payments; and, having no access to concessional multilateral aid and official development assistance (ODA), Sudan was forced to resort to non-concessional development aid from regional development Arab funds and from China and India to finance the external deficit. Figure 1: External Debt Currency Composition in 2010 Euro 22% 9% 1% 2% Japanese Yen 15% Pound Sterling Swiss Franc 51% US$ Other (Arabic countries, China, india, etc)

5 % US$ millions AFRODAD Country Profiles 201 Figure 2:Sudan External Debt Stock The world financial crisis experienced between 0 8 0,000 5,000 0,000 25,000 20,000 15,000 10,000 5,000 0 caused a sharp decline in oil export revenues, deteriorating terms of trade, lower volume of remittances and slow FDI inflows, and widened deficits in the balance of trade, current account and balance of payments. The effect was continuous accumulation of external debts as shown in Figure External Debt/GDP External Debt/Exports Figure : Sudan External Debt to GDP and Exports Although Sudan s external debtto-gdp and to-export ratios have been improving over the period -2010, they remain unsustainably very high. Current account deterioration and unfavourable trade terms have crippled Sudan s revenue flows. As figure depicts, the ratios of external debt to GDP and Exports in 2010 were 56% and 28%, respectively. In 2010, the government of Sudan used 7.5% of its revenues in external debt repayment; % of which came from export proceeds. Such policy moves have a direct adverse effect on economic growth which recorded -5% in

6 . ANNEXURE Table : Selected External Debt Indicators Economic Variable Units Total External Debt EXTERNAL DEBT 1 Public debt US$ M 2,672 25,106 27,007 28,7 1,87,71 5,6 7,88 US$ M 20,296 20,565 22,656 2,972 27,015 28,19 29,812,188 External debt long-term % External Debt/GDP % External debt/exports % External Debt Service/Exports % Reserves/External Debt % Exports/GDP % External Debt Service/Revenue %

7 5. Source: 1 Africa Statistical Year Book 2012, 2 African Development Bank Statistics 2012, Africa Economic Outlook AfDB/OECD 2012, AFRODAD Staff estimates, Bank of Sudan (Economic Bulletins and Publications); World Population Prospects, CD ROM, African Development Indicators 2012, World Economic Outlook data files, October 2011, GDF Online Database, World Bank Site, February 2012, World Economic Outlook data files, October