Diplomatic representation in the US: chief of mission: Ambassador Mahdi Ibrahim MAHAMMAD (recalled to Khartoum in August 1998) chancery: 2210 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008
Diplomatic representation from the US: US officials at the US Embassy in Khartoum were moved for security reasons in February 1996 and have been relocated to the US Embassies in Nairobi, Kenya and Cairo, Egypt; they visit Khartoum monthly, but the Sudanese Government has not allowed such visits since August 1998; the US Embassy in Khartoum (located on Sharia Abdul Latif Avenue; mailing employees; the US Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya is located temporarily in the USAID Building at The Crescent, Parkland, Nairobi; mailing address—P.O. Box 30137, Box 21A, Unit 64100, APO AE 09831; Cairo, Egypt is located at (North Gate) 8, Kamel El-Din Salah Street, Garden City, Cairo; mailing address—Unit 64900, APO AE
Flag description: three equal horizontal bands of red (top), white, and black with a green isosceles triangle based on the hoist side
Economy
Economy—overview: Sudan is buffeted by civil war, chronic political instability, adverse weather, high inflation, a drop in remittances from abroad, and counterproductive economic policies. The private sector's main areas of activity are agriculture and trading, with most private industrial investment predating 1980. Agriculture employs 80% of the work force. Industry mainly processes agricultural items. Sluggish economic performance over the past decade, attributable largely to declining annual rainfall, has kept per capita income at low levels. A large foreign debt and huge arrears continue to cause difficulties. In 1990 the International Monetary Fund took the unusual step of declaring Sudan noncooperative because of its nonpayment of arrears to the Fund. After Sudan backtracked on promised reforms in 1992-93, the IMF threatened to expel Sudan from the Fund. To avoid expulsion, Khartoum agreed to make payments on its arrears to the Fund, liberalize exchange rates, and reduce subsidies, measures it has partially implemented. The government's continued prosecution of the civil war and its growing international isolation continued to inhibit growth in the nonagricultural sectors of the economy during 1998. Hyperinflation has raised consumer prices above the reach of most. In 1998, a top priority was to develop potentially lucrative oilfields in southcentral Sudan; the government is working with foreign partners to exploit the oil sector.
GDP: purchasing power parity—$31.2 billion (1998 est.)
GDP—real growth rate: 6.1% (1998 est.)
GDP—per capita: purchasing power parity?$930 (1998 est.)
GDP—composition by sector: agriculture: 33% industry: 17% services: 50% (1992 est.)
Population below poverty line: NA%