• Home
  • news
    • 2009
      • Sudan Central Bank Says GDP to Grow About 6%

Sudan Central Bank Says GDP to Grow About 6%

Sudan’s economy may grow about 6 percent next year, central bank Governor Sabir Hassan said today, below the finance ministry’s target of 10 percent. Revenue from oil, which accounts for 50 percent of gross domestic product, has fallen by more than 70 percent so far this year, Hassan told reporters today in Abu Dhabi, where he is attending an Arab Monetary Fund conference.

 

“The drop in oil prices had a significant impact on our economy,” Hassan said. Oil traded at about $66 a barrel today, down from a record $147.27 a barrel in July 2008.

 

Economic growth is needed to help the largest country in Africa recover from a two-decade civil war between the north and south, and which is still suffering from a violent conflict in Darfur. The country is targeting growth of at least 10 percent in 2010, the state-run SUNA news agency reported this month, citing a Finance Ministry statement.

 

Earlier today Hassan said economic growth may slow to as low as 5 percent in 2009 from an average of between 8 percent and 9 percent in recent years because of the global financial crisis. Inflation is expected to ease to about 8 percent by the end of the year from an average of about 10 percent, Hassan said in an interview, without giving details.

 

The Sudanese central bank signed an agreement today with the Arab Trade and Finance Program, a subsidiary of the Arab Monetary Fund, for a $25 million credit line to finance trade related activities.

 

Sudan pumps about 520,000 barrels per day and expects that to reach 600,000 barrels by the end of the year, the Saudi-owned Asharq Al Awsat newspaper quoted Oil Minister Al-Zubair Ahmed Al-Hassan as saying on Sept. 3.

 

• Disclaimer