Amid its democratic transition, Sudan is accelerating the reforms necessary for its economic recovery. The country plans to obtain relief on 80% of its external debt through the HIPC initiative, which requires the initial repayment of the arrears due the IMF.

The Sudanese state will finally be able to settle all its arrears to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). This was announced by the Managing Director of the institution, Kristalina Georgieva (pictured), in a statement issued on Tuesday June 22.

According to her, Sudan has mobilized enough funding from its partners to repay its debt to the Bretton Woods institution. In total, "101 IMF member countries have pledged to provide more than SDR 992 million ($1,415.7 million) in financing” to Khartoum to repay its arrears.

This announcement reinforces Sudan's bid to join the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative which the country has been hoping to benefit from for several months. Since coming to power in 2019 after the fall of Omar al-Bashir, the transitional government led by Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok has been working hard to bring Sudan back into the international financial system. The goal is to mobilize the necessary funding to boost economic recovery and accelerate development projects.

To this end, political, economic, and social reforms have been implemented to get the country off the U.S. terror list, and to obtain assistance from several partners to settle arrears owed to the World Bank, the African Development Bank (AfDB), and now the IMF.

“The Fund will continue to support Sudan in its recovery from a long period of instability and economic hardship […] Sudan is now one step closer to reaching the HIPC Decision Point, a landmark which will significantly reduce Sudan’s total debt and allow access to fresh funds and new investments critical to boosting growth and fighting poverty,” Kristalina Georgieva said.

Let’s note that following the recent Paris Summit, PM Hamdok announced his government’s intention to obtain relief for about $45 billion, or 80%, of its external debt estimated at $60 billion.  

Moutiou Adjibi Nourou