Sudan’s Treasury Risks Losing $2 Billion in Gold Revenues

The battles paralyze the commercial sector in Khartoum. (Reuters)

Sudanese economists have warned that the prolongation of the war will afflict the Sudanese economy with huge losses and increase the average inflation rate, which has already reached 600 percent.

Sudanese Economist Dr. Muhammad Al-Nayer estimated that the suspension of operations at the Khartoum airport to have disrupted 5 percent of the total Sudanese exports and imports, which amount to a total of $15 billion. He added that the Sudanese treasury lost $2 billion of gold exports.

In terms of the volume of commercial losses, Al-Nayer estimated that those will amount to $15 billion, on the basis of $11 billion in imports and more than $4 billion in exports.

“If the war extends, spreads and widens, the gross domestic reserve will certainly be affected, inflation will worsen, and the price of the Sudanese currency will collapse,” he warned.

As for other indicators, according to Al-Nayer, Sudan “suffers from a high poverty rate that exceeds 60 percent, and a high unemployment rate that surpasses 40 percent.”

With regards to the revenues of the state treasury in the central government in Khartoum, the expert confirmed that it “has been affected since the outbreak of the ongoing skirmishes, and has even stopped operating completely”, unlike the situation in other states that have not yet been affected by the war.

For her part, Economist Somaya Sayed noted that the Sudanese economy has been witnessing a remarkable deterioration for years, which, in her opinion, was “one of the reasons for the fall of the former regime.”

This collapse continued even after the December Revolution due to the failure of the transitional government to achieve political and economic stability and to adopt policies that stimulate local production.

Sayed stressed, in comments to Asharq Al-Awsat, that neglecting the country’s resources and searching for external support has led to further economic decline,” expecting the recent outbreak to lead to a complete collapse that may have catastrophic consequences on the overall economic and living conditions.”