BASIC
FACTS
THE LAND AND PEOPLE
LOCATION:
SUDAN is located in the north corner of eastern
Africa, between latitude 4 and 23 and longitudes 22 and 38.
BORDERS :
The country shares borders with 9 Afro-Arab countries.
Egypt to the North
Libya to the North west.
Chad and C.A.R. to the west
Zaire, Uganda and Kenya to the South
Ethiopia and Eritrea to the east
Saudi Arabia accross the Red Sea.
CLIMATE :
SUDAN lies in tropical Africa.
Its climate varies from equatorial in the south - Savanah
in the midlands.
Continental in the North.
Mediteranian climate with winter rain in the east.
WINDS
: For the
most part, the country has tropical continental
climate in which two winds play an important role:
The Northerlies bring cool, dry weather in winter and
heat in summer.
The Southerlies carry
rain from the south in January and
reach their extreme in August.
The Northerlies : dominate the desert regions of the
dry north. Temperatures are high and rainfall low :
0.1 mm erage.
The Southerlies: become more influential as we move
south, bringing rain with an annual average of 175mm.
The rain season occupy the months of July, August and
September.
Average rainfall in the South is (1.250 mm) The climate
of the Red Sea area differs from the rest of Sudan, with
scattered showers in winter and humid hot tempratures
in Summer.
PAINFALL:
The annual rainfall is 1800 mm (72 inches) though at
Khartoum it is only 80 mm. The rainy season extends
roughly from June to September.
TOPOGRAPHY: Sudan
is a country of plains and plateaus with scattered
mountain
ranges. Main peaks are the Imatong and
Nuba
(Rising to some 1500 M) in the South - Gebel
Mara
(Extinct Volcano Over 3500 M. High) in the
west - and the Red Sea Hills (over
2000M) in the east.
WATER
RESOURCES: From Uganda in the south to Egypt in the
north runs the White Nile and the Blue Nile
from the Ethiopian Highlands through 9000 kilometers.
VEGETATION
:
Extremely varied equatiorial in the southern
most part of the country changing to savanah,
marshland, long and short grasses in the states
of Kordofan, Darfur and
central -semi-desert
and desert to the North.
POPULATION
:
24.9million (1993) the population is concentrated
along the River Nile and around Khartoum State).
The remainder of the country being sparsely
inhabited.Annual
demographic growth (around 3%)
Distribution by sex
Males
13,900,000
Females
13,100,000
Distribution by Age
Under 15 years of Age
11,520,369
15 to 65
13,793,928
65+
1,674,603
Distribution by Type
Urban Areas
22.7%
Rural Areas
74.3%
Nomands
3.0%
Sudanese working abroad
2.7%
AREA
:
Sudan occupies 2,505,815 square kilometers
(a pproximately one million square miles)
The country is the largest in africa occupying
8.3 percent of its landscape; ranks 10th in the world.
STATES
:
Since the advent of the National Salvation
Revolution and the convening of the National
Dialogue Conference, Sudan adopted the federal
republican system giving autonomous rule to
different regions. It is widely accepted that this
system suits the conditions of Sudan, a country
with diversified ethnic, cultural and relegious
groups.
OPPORTUNITIES
AND REASONS
FOR
INVESTING IN SUDAN
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1. The Sudanese government has set in motion a plan
which created a political system responsive to the religious, cultural, and
ethnic diversities putting the country on the road to full democratization .
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II. This is part of programmes based on a nation-wide
dialogue conferences which produced proposals for a federal system of government
taking into consideration the vital interests of minorities and eradicating all
symptoms of discontent. It is felt that people will get involved with more
enthusiam in rescontructing if they could expect more of a say in running their
country.
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III. The adoption of those programmes created an
atmosphere of stability and injected a sense of moderation in the turmoil of
Sudanese politics .
Those developments went hand in hand with changes that have been made to
open up the economy and move towards privatization.
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IV. Following the economic reforms of the past three
years, the government announced a comprehensive Ten Year National Strategy
identifying six areas critical to Sudan’s development. Infrasturctre is
at the top of the list. Roads and transportation in- general are under
modernization to open up more of the country for economic development. Running
the country’s factories at high capacities and putting those not operating
back to work are top priorities. There is great emphasis on the development of
basic industry to supply the
manufacturing , transportation and the agricultrual sectors with a domestic
source of spareparts.
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V. Boosting the nations exports remains a key goal,
and Sudan is widening its scope to develop industries that have export potential
. This area is wide open for foreign investors.
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VI. Sudan is a country full of promise. Foreign
investors and overseas companies could be involved almost in every area, but
agriculture remains to be the primary engine of growth. The aim is to achieve
food self-sufficiency first, then to produce export crops to raise foreign
exchange.
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VII. The government also plans to allow foreign
investors to hold long term leases on agricultural land.
Key to such investment is the expansion of Sudan’s ability to irrigate
its land. Of the irrigated lands in Africa, over 60 percent are in sudan. 13
million hectares are currently under irrigation , but much more of Sudan’s
land could be useful for some form of agriculture.
Sudan’s
rain -dependent crops is an area open for investment. Sorghum ranks as Sudan’s
leading export after cotton . Other largely rain dependent crops include gum -arabic,
sesame and ground nuts.
Livestock,
accounting for nearly 15 percent of export earnings, is also largely dependent
on rain.
Sudan’s
environment, with its warm dry climate and sandy soils has proved to be
perfectly tailored for producing cotton. Sudan’s plans for development also
call for an increase in sugar production where self sufficiency has currently
been achieved and the country began a huge export drive.
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VIII. Sudan has vast mineral deposits that have not
been fully exploited. Gold is currently being exported in a joint venture with a
French mining company. Other mineral deposits available for extraction by
foreign and local investors included chromite, mica, gypsum, marble, granite,
China clay, silica, and manganese.
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IX. The
fishing industry is an area where investors can make quick returns because it
has great potential as an export source. Plans are now being developed to
work the Red Sea coastline separately or in joint ventures with
neighbouring countries.
The River Nile is one of the greatest sources of fish top, among the
world’s rivers. There is great demand for freezing plants and fisheries to set
the industry in motion.
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X. Sudan has significant proven oil reserves. The
growing world -wide demand for petroleum products makes a country like Sudan-
with a landscape that clearly indicates its potential as a site for oil
exploration -a priority target. Sudan’s 967.500 square miles are trisected by
three major intercontinental rifts, sedimentary full in the basins formed by
those fault zones in some parts exceed three miles in thickness. Oil discoveries
were made in the interior and eastern sectors within a relatively short span of
time, in addition to gas-condensate discovery in the Red Sea . Geological
research has also verified the existence of marine deposits that nearly cover an
area of 92,000 square miles. These geological findings should further encourage
those interested in conducting oil exploration in Sudan.
Now five international companies are working in oil
exploration in western and southern Sudan. The production of oil now reached
150,000 barrels a day. A consortium of Comapanies from differnt parts of the
world have already invested in the longest pipeline from southern Sudan to Basheir port in the Red Sea investing
over million dollars in that line . Also two oil
Refineries have been built
in Western Sudan and North of the capital Khartoum with a capacity of two and a
half million ton per year costing 640 million dollars.
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XI. The
new investment act and the economic policies are effective and important
elements in helping Sudan rebuild its economy , scrapping all government
monopolies. It is also decontrolling prices in the economy, mainly agricultural
prices and export prices. The system is also changed to guarantee the investors
the right to repatriate funds earned in Sudan.
Under
the terms of the new act projects are exempt from business profit tax for at
least five years . The act also provides guarantees against nationalization and
other forms of seizure. Foreign private investors can also maintain foreign
currency bank accounts and use their receipts to import capital goods for new
ventures. It also provides for exemption form import and export duties for
investment in industries that produce semi-processed goods for export from raw
materials.
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XII. The potential for an expanding tourist industry
makes Sudan one of Africa’s greatest attraction. It promises a magnificent
holiday in a cheerful and hospitable atmoshpere, where ancient sites are so
grand and well preserved. Wildife could be sighted from close range.
Sudan
is characterized by green parks, open forests, waterfalls, swamps, marine
gradens and coral reefs. There are also the archeological sites which house a
diversity of temples, palaces, pyramids, ancient mosques and churches,
fortresses and other monuments dating back to seven thousand years.
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XIII. While all this is happening there is an
increasing sophistication in conducting operations in Sudan. Investors
interested in business in the past find themselves tangled in a complicated
bureaucratic web. Today you can relax, enjoy your stay in the country and let
the Investment Authority
do the Job for you.
INVESTMENT
CLIMATE IN SUDAN
The National
Salvation Government has seriously endeavoured to utilize to the utmost
all available potentialities in the Sudan by creating favourable investment
conditions that attract the adequate capitals for this purpose.In order to
encourage both national and foreign capitals to invest in Sudan, the state has
taken the following steps:-
a. Economical
reforms were stipulated, for instance: abrogation of state monopoly of
agricultural and industrial products, the economic services sector and
marketing. The state has also withdrawn from some public sector corporations and
institutions. Radical reforms of investment
acts and laws regulating all economic activities have lead to the
complete lifting of any clauses that hinder the private sector’s contribution
in investment, thus increase productivity.
A
similar economic, trade and financial policies that run in the same course, and
back the new orientation of the Sudanese economy towards the free market economy
were also adopted. As examples for these policies:-
- Lifting
and floating of the Sudanese Dinar against the dollar. Thus,allowing the foreign
exchange values of the pound to vary freely according to the values of other
international currencies.
- All
kinds of commodities may be imported. The banned commodities are: clothes,
textiles, ready-made clothes, sauces, slaughtered and alive animals, chicken and
eggs, natural leather, sugar, alcoholic beverages and drugs, fire arms and
ammunition (except with a permit). However, there are plans to shorten the above
list by lifting the import ban from some of these commodities.
- The National Salvation Government has adopted a
national ten-year work plan (1992-2003) , during which all the possible
potentialities and energies of the nation shall be mobilized in order to realize
the strategy’s desired aims and goals in accordance with the findings of a
studied futuristic perspective, hence the adopted programme shall turn out to be
genuine strategic break through not merely late reactionary decisions.
This plan is in fact a means of striking a deep root for the cultural
and interllectual resurrection and remobilization of the society and an overall
planning that includes all sectors of the Sudanese society . It shall also be a
comprehensive plan for the most ideal utilization of all sorts of human and
natural wealth in Sudan.
- The 1999 Investment Act has also encouraged
investment in the agricultural (animal and crop), the industrial, the
mining,transport, tourism, warehousing, housing, contracting and basic services
sectors for national , Arab and foreign private sectors besides the
co-operative, joint-venture and public sectors without any bias or favouritism.