Problems of economic development in the Sudan

Development has been made possible in the last 55 years either as a result of outside help (1899-1914) or foreign loans (1918-1939) or from budget surpluses resulting from good cotton exports (1946 and after). The Sudan being essentially a pastoral and agricultural country, revenue derived from cotton exports is used to a large extent to maintain the fabric of public services as well as social and economic development. Agricultural expansion has to await a satisfactory revision of the 1929 agreement on the distribution of the Nile waters. As to the development of light and agricultural industries, there is no easy solution to the problem of raising the necessary capital in the immediate future.