Sudan’s economy shattered by two years of war

Two years after the start of Sudan’s devastating civil war, the price of essential food items in some areas of the country has spiralled and tens of millions are struggling to afford basic provisions. According to the IMF the inflation rate based on average consumer prices is expected to hit 118.9% this year, following 200% last year.

In the city of Port Sudan, a safer part of the country where many Sudanese from elsewhere have accumulated, one kilogram of meat now sells for 26,000 Sudanese pounds ($43). Before the war, it was at 12,000 SDG ($20). Basic commodities such as rice, beans and sugar are difficult to find and have also spiked in price.

UNICEF executive director Catherine Russell told the UN Security Council in March that Sudan “is now the largest and the most devastating humanitarian crisis in the world, with some 30 million requiring humanitarian assistance this year, more than half of whom are children.

“The rise in prices, soaring inflation rates, and the collapse of the market value of the Sudanese currency are primarily due to the paralysis of productive sectors and the state’s increasing reliance on revenues from the mineral sector to keep the government running and cover the costs of war,” Mohamed Elhadi, a political activist, tells African Business.

After two years of war between government forces led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and a powerful military faction known as the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by his former deputy General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, there is no immediate end in sight. In late March the Sudanese army secured a significant victory when it drove RSF troops from the capital Khartoum. On 15 April G7 foreign ministers called for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire in Sudan and condemned attacks by both sides.

Productive areas targeted in hostilities

A report from the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), published in March 2024, showed national cereal production at 46% below 2023 levels and 40% below the five-year average.

Data provided by World Vision’s Price Shocks 2025’s survey suggests that, in Sudan, the required labour time for an average person to afford 10 basic food items has increased by 42% since last year. According to the UN World Food Programme (WFP), famine has been confirmed in more than 10 locations in Sudan; another 17 are on the brink.

Hostilities between Sudan’s warring factions have led to the destruction of swathes of farmland, indirectly as a result of the displacement of farmers and rising fuel and fertiliser prices and directly through the targeting of agricultural land and markets by combatants.

Insecurity Insight reported earlier this year that in Gezira state, which used to produce half of all wheat in Sudan, RSF forces have forcibly taken crops and fertilisers on a large scale since they took control of the state capital in 2023. One of the biggest flour and bread factories was targeted by shelling only a week after the start of the war. In Darfur and Kordofan, states the same report, livestock were looted or forcibly taken at least 85 times between 15 April 2023 and 30 November 2024.

At least 236 incidents affecting markets were recorded between April 2023 and November 2024 – including 64 incidents in which markets were struck by aircraft- or drone-delivered explosive weapons. The majority of these attacks were attributed to the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) in Khartoum state. In a further 40 incidents markets were struck by artillery fire or other forms of shelling, with the responsible for them split between the SAF and RSF; the majority of these attacks, too, occurred in Khartoum state.

Infrastructure damage and fuel shortages have further reduced what remains of industrial productivity in the cities of Khartoum, Bahri, and Omdurman, where most of the country’s factories and workshops are located.

The Red Cross reported growing use of drone attacks by warring parties on hospitals, electricity and water infrastructure. The forestry sector has also been impacted.

“The sector, especially in Kordofan and Blue Nile, which contributes significantly through gum Arabic (Sudan supplies over 70% of the world’s demand), has been effectively shut down due to conflict. Key export sectors have hence been paralysed, leading to a significant decline in foreign exchange earnings,” says Elhadi.

In this context, international and local aid groups are providing essential safety nets to Sudan’s population. At a London conference in mid-April, the European Union and member states pledged $592m to address the crisis, and Britain announced an extra $158m in aid.

However, aid agencies’ reliance on donor funding leaves them vulnerable to policy changes. In 2024 the US was the largest single donor of humanitarian aid to Sudan. Some experts fear that US President Donald Trump’s 90-day freeze on aid – which was followed by the announcement that around 80% of USAID programmes will be scrapped – could impact fund availability.

When the 90-day freeze on US aid was announced, aid volunteers told the BBC that more than 1,100 communal kitchens, around 80% of the total, had shut. The BBC estimated that, consequently, nearly two million Sudanese struggling to survive were affected. Reuters reported in March that the RSF has placed new constraints on aid deliveries to territories where it is seeking to cement its control.

Emigration flood continues

The harsh conditions have forced more than four million Sudanese out of the country, and many are reluctant to return. Over a thousand Sudanese refugees have reached or attempted to reach Europe in early 2025 alone, the United Nations’ refugee agency said in April.

Abdurahman, a 27-year-old Sudanese English teacher displaced in Cairo since the war started, tells African Business that it is impossible for many to return.

“Some people return to Sudan and soon after they come back to Egypt again,” says Abdurahman. “Here life is a bit cheaper. You can work and pay for your rent and your food, whereas over there in Sudan, you cannot do it nowadays. A lot of people have ended up living in the street.”

Despite recently being deportation from Egypt because of what he said was a small delay in the renewal of his UN refugee card, he decided to return to Cairo by smuggling routes, rather than staying in Sudan.

“The situation is really bad, it has changed drastically,” Abdurahman says. “It is too much money for me to rent a house over there and even to start my life from the beginning, I could not do it.”

Those who have chosen to stay face multiple challenges, including runaway inflation and restrictions on work.

Abdallah, 40, a former Khartoum-based lawyer before the war started, is now based in Port Sudan, living off savings as he searches for a new occupation.

“It is rare to find someone working in their field, especially in war zones… Some live off remittances from abroad, while others adapt to the market with very simple jobs, such as carrying goods, selling portable drinking water, selling food, or engaging in small-scale trade,” he says.