A recent publication featured in Nature Human Behavior on May 6, 2024, delves into the severe socioeconomic impacts of the ongoing conflict in Sudan. Since the conflict between the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) began on April 15, 2023, in Khartoum, it has spread across the country. The humanitarian toll is significant, with nearly 14,800 deaths, 24.8 million people in need of assistance, 17.7 million facing acute food insecurity, and 8.25 million displaced as of March 2024.
On an economic level, Sudan’s fragile economy contracted by 18.3% in 2023, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). However, other estimates of the economic impact from the World Bank, IFPRI, and the Sudan Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning range between 12% and more than 50%. This publication underscores the urgent need for accurate measures of these impacts to support conflict resolution and international aid efforts.
Despite the grave situation, Sudan's conflict has received less international attention compared to other major conflicts. The study emphasizes the challenges in assessing the economic impacts due to data scarcity, exacerbated by the ongoing war, and highlights the critical role of international and local organizations, including the IMF, World Bank, IFPRI, and Sudan’s Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, in providing essential economic estimates to guide effective interventions.
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