Sudan turns to oil, China, and food exports to ease economic crisis
Even before South Sudan became independent in July of this year, (North) Sudan was suffering from high inflation and other economic woes. Inflation rates聽聽in the winter of 2010-2011 (.pdf, see figure 6), driven in part by rising costs for staple foods. The loss of the South (which produced around 75 percent of the unified Sudan鈥檚 oil) compounded聽, and inflation has remained high (around 20 percent), though it聽. Continued violence and uncertainty in聽聽and in Darfur has no doubt added to economic volatility.
In July, the government in聽聽and launched a three-year economic recovery program. Now Khartoum is taking at least three more steps to address the economic crisis:
- 聽from the current level of around 117,000 barrels per day to 180,000 bpd in 2012
- Maintaining and聽its relationship with China
Khartoum鈥檚 political problems, especially the issues connected to its relations with the newly independent South Sudan, are central concerns for the government. But the economic crisis has huge domestic importance, and the course of Sudan鈥檚 internal politics in 2012 could be strongly affected by the success or failure of the measures listed above.
鈥� Alex Thurston is a PhD student studying Islam in Africa at Northwestern University and blogs at .
