Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir (R) and South Sudanese President Salva Kiir Mayardit attend a press conference in Khartoum, capital of Sudan, on Nov. 2, 2017. Picture by Mohamed Khidir/Xinhua News Agency/PA Images. All rights reserved.The secession of South Sudan proved to be a quintessential opening of a can of worms for Sudan. While the 2017 IMF country report described recent economic performance as ‘mixed,’ a conversation with anyone on the street would reveal that it was in fact, abysmal.
South Sudan took with it the bulk of the oil industry, which provided the former unified state with ample foreign currency reserves, and provided over 80% of its exports. Since losing this, the import-dependent country struggles to fund the import of even the most basic commodities after losing its chief source of hard currency, and the public is bearing the brunt of the pain in the form of rapidly increasing inflation.
Too little, too late
Sudan’s economic problems are exacerbated by a declining Sudanese Pound (SDG) and the rise of a forex black market (also known as the ‘parallel market’) which has become the primary channel through which money is exchanged and remittances from Sudanese abroad are sent. The official rate is set at 29 SDG against the US Dollar, but the black market rate as of late hovers in the 40's with highs near 50 last month. The large spread between official rate and parallel market rate means that the latter is the best deal for the public since more SDG’s will be earned for their Greenbacks, Euros, Riyals, etc.
