Al -Jazeera Net Correspondents
10/7/2025–|Last update: 08:00 (Mecca time)
Shendi- In a country abounding in fertile lands and livestock, obtaining an integrated food meal has become a dream that is far to reach the majority of citizens, who are under the weight of a grinding war and a comprehensive economic collapse. In the markets overwhelmed RecessionAnd in homes, people fight for two meals per day, barely sufficient to fill the breath, while the value of the Sudanese pound deteriorates without stopping, in the absence of real solutions or a clear political horizon.
In his latest reports, he revealed World Bank on Economy shrinkage The Sudanese by an additional rate of 13.5% during the year 2024, after decreasing by about a third in 2023. The same report expected that the percentage of the population living in extreme poverty would reach 71%, in light of the continued conflict and the absence of the state. These numbers are not mere statistics, but rather a reality that the citizen lives daily between hunger, impotence and the cycle of survival.
“I work 12 hours a day to collect less than 10 dollars, I am barely enough for me for my family, which is made up of 6 individuals,” says Iqbal Muhammad, a laboratory technician in Shendi, north of Khartoum. “Before the war, I needed only about 5 thousand pounds to cover our daily expenses, but now there are goods that doubled the price of more than 1,000%.” Iqbal is not alone. Millions of Sudanese face a similar reality, as basic foodstuffs turned into rare goods, and the daily table turned into a constant challenge.
Market stagnation and a decline in agriculture
Markets in cities and villages are witnessing a state of paralysis. “People do not buy,” says Badr Al -Din Ahmed, a vegetable seller in Shendi.
Badr al -Din attributes this stagnation to the decrease in the agricultural area, especially in the state of Al -Jazeera, which was a major food basket for the country. According to the FAO, agricultural production decreased by more than 40%, a sector that makes up 35% of GDP and provides jobs for more than 40% of the workforce.
In turn, merchants suffer from the effects of high prices. “I stopped selling imported canned and beverages because people no longer buy them. Sales have declined a lot, and the demand for lentils, sugar, oil and detergents was limited,” says Mohamed Abdel Hamid, a 60 -year -old merchant. Everyone is losing in this equation, from the product to the consumer.
Under these circumstances, difficulties with illness or accidents increase. Abdullah Warraq, a construction worker, says: “Sometimes we live on one meal a day. We do not buy meat or vegetables, and the most difficult we face when a family member gets sick, the costs of treatment are no longer at hand, and alternative medicine is the last resort.”
The collapse of the pound and the erosion of wages
One of the most prominent aspects of economic collapse is the deterioration of the Sudanese pound exchange rate. Since the outbreak of the war in April 2023, the pound fell from 600 pounds against the dollar to 2679 pounds in the parallel market, while in official banks registered about 2100 pounds in the middle of 2025.
This collapse was reflected directly on the wages, and a study conducted by the Teachers Committee in July was estimated that the monthly living cost of a family made up of 5 individuals ranging between 354 thousand pounds in stable areas, and reaches 2.8 million pounds in the states affected by the war. However, the wages of workers in the public sector cover only 8% of these costs, according to the study, which means that more than 90% of employees live below the poverty line.
Sumaya Abdul Rahman, nurse and mother of 4 children, says: “I work in a clinic and laboratory, yet my income is covered only a third of our needs. Two of my children study at the university, and I borrow every month to be able to continue.” This style is repeated with thousands of families, as it is no longer a single job, nor two, able to provide the minimum subsistence.
According to the World Bank report, unemployment rates increased from 32% in 2022 to 47% in 2024, due to the large -scale closures of companies and total collapse in the labor market.
Economic visions … and postponed solutions
The economist, Dr. Hussein Al -Quni, believes that the deterioration of the value of the pound is linked to 3 main factors: decline in production, the absence of exports, and a great demand for the dollar as a result of the Sudanese travel abroad.
It indicates that the absence of the executive apparatus made the dollar a rare commodity, and that the ambiguity of the political scene prevents any real external support. “The destruction that caused the economy great, and no one wants to risk supporting an economy that does not have a clear future image,” says Al -Quni.
As for Professor Kamal Ahmed Youssef, Dean of the College of Graduate Studies at the University of Niles, he believes that “agriculture is a quick hope for cash returns, but it needs electricity, solar energy, safe lands, and an existing infrastructure.” It demands the reconstruction of roads and bridges, and the provision of basic services such as water, health and education as a major condition for people to return to their areas. It also calls for encouraging local investment, reducing the customs dollar, and signing agreements with neighboring countries to facilitate the import of necessary goods.
He points to the continuation of some states to use the old currency despite the decision to replace more than a year ago, warning that this opens the door to corruption and increases the complexity of the country’s monetary crisis.
While the Sudanese face a daily battle with high costs, hunger and disease, hope remains contracting on a promising agricultural season, and a political consensus that restores the state with a limit of effectiveness and prestige, before the rest of the country’s economy collapses and hunger becomes the base, not the exception.