Author(s)

Abstract

Sudan’s modern history has been one of an inequitable and predatory political economy characterised by elite capture of the state and its resources. Power and wealth have been largely concentrated in the capital city of Khartoum creating pronounced development disparities and inequalities between the centre and the peripheries. Gender inequality is apparent where the human development index for women is 0.472 compared to 0.544 for males with the estimated national gross income per capita for women being $1,750 compared to $5,282 for men. Women also bear a disproportionate burden due to the interplay between conflict, economic inequality, political marginalisation and climate change. The conflict has devastated the livelihoods of most of the population in the country. Production and marketing have been halted, and human capital and state capacity have been destroyed. The country’s industrial base has been damaged. The economic activity, including farming, trade, financial, and information and communications technology services, have collapsed with detrimental impacts on food security and livelihood conditions. The banking sector is in a severe crisis, with widespread cash shortages nationwide. Cash-strapped Sudanese are struggling to buy essential items as the inflation rate soars. Skyrocketing inflation rates and the liquidity crisis have led to the Sudanese currency (SDG) to become a commodity of speculation with differentials between liquid cash and digital cash, and with the introduction of new currency notes, between the old and new SDG, therefore exerting more pressure on the already impoverished population.