Curated by Vinod Kumar Jain & Amit Jain · All Frontier Global · free, no login · reviewed 2026-07-05
More pyramids than Egypt, on the Nubian Nile
Official figures, each with its source and the date it was read — the key-facts panel above is rounded and undated.
Income per head: GNI per capita, Atlas method: US$900 (2025). The series shows the shape of the war — US$720 in 2022, down to US$660 in 2023, then US$710 in 2024 and US$900 in 2025. The 2025 figure is above the pre-conflict level in nominal dollars; the 2023 trough is the number that describes what happened.
Income group: The World Bank classifies Sudan as Low income, region Sub-Saharan Africa, lending category IDA.
Economy size: GDP (current US$): US$60,162,634,574 — about US$60.16 billion (2025), against US$49.67 billion in 2024 and a low of US$39.90 billion in 2023. Measured against the US$51.67 billion of 2022, the economy spent two years below its pre-war dollar size before passing it.
The last inflation rate anyone published: Sudan's consumer price inflation was 138.8% in 2022 — and that is the most recent observation in the World Bank series, which has no value for 2023, 2024 or 2025. The years before it run 359.1% in 2021, 163.3% in 2020, 51.0% in 2019 and 63.3% in 2018. The number is severe; the fact that the series stops in the year before the war is the more useful signal.
The last exchange rate anyone published: The official rate, period average, was 546.76 Sudanese pounds to the US dollar in 2022 — again the last non-null observation, after 370.79 in 2021, 53.99 in 2020 and 45.77 in 2019. A currency that moved from 46 to 547 in three years and has not been officially published since is one to treat as unpriced rather than as stable. Do not carry the 2022 figure into a 2026 quotation.
Sourced notes — every figure above, with where it was read and when.
Trade agreements (3): Sudan participates in AfCFTA, the Arab League trade framework, and COMESA; there is no India–Sudan FTA, and current conflict conditions have significantly disrupted normal trade flows.
Passport strength: visa-free/VOA to ~40 destinations. Weak; heavy restrictions.
India × Sudan hub ↗ All countries factsheet
Indian passport holders require a visa arranged in advance through the Sudanese embassy, but given the active conflict, tourism is not currently viable and travel should not be undertaken regardless of visa status.
e-Visa: no — paper process · Visa on arrival: Varies by nationality
Long-distance buses and shared taxis historically connected Khartoum, Port Sudan, and other cities, but transport infrastructure and safety have been severely affected by the current conflict; app-based ride-hailing is not functioning reliably nationwide.
Car vs taxi: Self-driving or any independent travel is not advisable under current conditions; this is not a country for tourism planning at present.
Money: Cash (Sudanese pound) is essential as card infrastructure is minimal and banking systems have been disrupted by conflict; carrying US dollars in cash as backup is a common practical approach when travel is unavoidable.
SIM & data: Zain Sudan, MTN Sudan, and Sudani (Sudatel) are the main operators, though network reliability has been badly disrupted by the ongoing conflict in many areas; connectivity should not be assumed outside stable zones.
Tipping: Modest tipping of small amounts for porters, guides, and restaurant staff in Khartoum is appreciated, though it's not a strict obligation.
Etiquette: Hospitality and generous greetings are deeply valued in Sudanese culture, and conservative dress is expected given the country's Islamic traditions.
Food: Ful medames (stewed fava beans) and kisra (fermented sorghum flatbread) are Sudanese staples; bottled or properly treated water is essential.
Say hello: Arabic — “As-salamu alaykum” · thanks “Shukran” · how much? “Bikam?”
Sudan is currently experiencing a severe, active armed conflict with major humanitarian consequences, and virtually all governments advise against any travel to the country at this time.
For nomads: Not currently a nomad destination — conflict and unstable internet mean travel is inadvisable; check advisories.
Education: Arabic-based system; instability affects education availability.
Healthcare: Healthcare system strained; private clinics in Khartoum preferred.
What it costs an Indian passport to get in: This is the one Sudan cost that is published, current and India-specific. The Sudanese embassy in New Delhi charges Rs 8,265.00 for a single entry visa on a schedule effective 01/01/2026, Rs 49,590.00 for a six-month multiple entry and Rs 99,180.00 for a twelve-month multiple, plus Rs 600 if the passport is returned by post. Payment is cash or postal money order only, and the four-working-day clock starts only once an invitation letter approved by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Khartoum is already in hand — so the real cost is the lead time on that letter, not the fee.
What it costs from anywhere else: For comparison, the same visa bought at Sudan's mission in Washington DC is US$154 with up to ten working days of processing — and there the published categories are business, work, humanitarian, Sudanese-national and diplomatic only.
What a Sudanese income looks like: World Bank GNI per capita, Atlas method, was US$900 in 2025, against US$660 at the 2023 trough. Read that as the ceiling on any domestic price you are quoted, not as a living standard: the same series ran US$720 in 2022, so five years of numbers describe a currency and an economy that have moved more than the people have.
What prices last did, and why no current figure appears: The most recent published numbers are three and four years old, and they are the only official ones there are: consumer price inflation of 138.8% in 2022, and an official exchange rate averaging 546.76 Sudanese pounds to the dollar in the same year. Both World Bank series stop there. The Central Bank of Sudan's site is up and publishing — its most recent items are tender notices for the National Instant Payment System project — but it served no exchange rate and no inflation figure on 2026-08-19, and its dedicated rate paths returned 404. So there is no rent, meal or transit anchor on this page and no 2026 rate: under the estate's provenance law an unsourced figure is not written, and a four-year-old exchange rate is a historical fact, not a price.
Compared with Egypt: Egypt is both Sudan's northern neighbour and its largest supplier, taking 24.7% of Sudan's import trade in 2025. On the only measure both countries publish on the same basis and for the same year, World Bank GNI per capita for 2025, Egypt runs US$3,260 against Sudan's US$900 — a little over three and a half times. Egypt's own figure is falling in dollar terms, from US$3,510 in 2024, while Sudan's is rising from US$710; the gap is closing from both ends, and neither movement is good news. Both figures are Atlas-method GNI per capita for 2025, so they are directly comparable; no price index is compared, because no Sudanese one was obtainable. Like for like — both are World Bank Atlas-method GNI per capita for 2025. No CPI, rent or wage comparison is made, because no Sudanese price series was served by an official host today.
Sourced notes — every figure above, with where it was read and when.
Places Confluence of the Niles (Mogran) (Landmark) · Sudan National Museum (Museum) · Omdurman Souq (Market)
Places Meroë Pyramids (Ancient ruins) · Royal City of Meroë (Archaeological site) · Musawwarat es-Sufra (Archaeological site)
Places Sanganeb Atoll (Coral reef) · Sha'ab Rumi (Dive site) · Suakin Old Town (Historic site)
Places Kassala Camel Market (Market) · Taka Mountains (Mountain) · Kassala Fort (Historical)
Places Nile River Waterfront Markets (Market) · Kosti Bridge (Historic Site) · Local Spice and Grain Markets (Market)
City notes from Amit's own travels — the interactive travelogue holds the full record
Sudan's economy spans gold, oil (pipeline transit), gum arabic (a world-leading export) and agriculture, amid conflict.
Trade framework: Sudan participates in AfCFTA, the Arab League trade framework, and COMESA; there is no India–Sudan FTA, and current conflict conditions have significantly disrupted normal trade flows.
India angle: India buys gum arabic and oilseeds.
Outlook: conflict resolution is the precondition for recovery.
The Trade & FTA line says Sudan participates in COMESA. The secretariat's own member table confirms it: the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa lists 21 member states, and the Republic of The Sudan is one of them, entered with capital Khartoum, calling code +249 and currency Sudanese pound. The full list runs Burundi, Comoros, DR Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Eswatini, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia, Sudan, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. That places Sudan in the same preferential framework as Egypt — the supplier that already sends it 24.7% of its imports — and as Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia and Djibouti, which is the entire land route to the sea that does not run through Port Sudan.
India implication: For an Indian exporter the useful reading is that Sudan is not a single-country decision. A COMESA-resident distributor in Egypt, Kenya or Ethiopia can hold stock inside the same preferential area and serve Sudanese demand as the security picture allows, without re-importing across a full external tariff each time. That is a materially different risk profile from shipping direct into a conflict port, and it is the structure most Indian suppliers in gum arabic and oilseeds already use in practice.
Outlook: COMESA membership is the part of Sudan's trade architecture that survives the war on paper regardless of what happens on the ground. The question is which member state ends up as the working entrepôt — Egypt on the river and rail, or the Ethiopian and Kenyan corridors to the south.
The page's Bloc block is the Arab League, and it is right to be. But Sudan sits in a second regional body the profile does not mention: the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, created in 1996, with eight member states — Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Uganda. IGAD is the body through which the Horn actually negotiates, and it is currently active on Sudan specifically: its own newsroom records that the IGAD Executive Secretary concluded a high-level mission to Sudan on 31 July 2026. Where the Arab League anchors Sudan's cultural and diplomatic north, IGAD is the operational east-and-south — the same eight capitals that control the road, rail and port options.
India implication: IGAD membership is the reason an Indian firm's Sudan file should never be opened alone. Six of the eight IGAD states are reachable, and the two that are not — Sudan and, in parts, South Sudan — are the two that need everything. Humanitarian and reconstruction procurement in this region is tendered and staged from Nairobi, Addis Ababa and Djibouti far more than from Khartoum, and Indian suppliers with existing East African registrations are already inside the qualifying perimeter.
Outlook: Watch IGAD rather than the Arab League for the practical signals. Its mediation calendar is the leading indicator for when Sudanese ports, roads and letters of credit start functioning again.
The page's Product block is gum arabic, and its Sector block is agriculture. Both are real, but the HS-coded shape of Sudan's outbound trade is dominated by something else. On the European Commission's 2025 factsheet, Mineral products (HS Section V) account for 74.5% of everything the EU imports from Sudan; Vegetable products (Section II) — the section that carries gum arabic, sesame and oilseeds — are 23.2%, and Foodstuffs, beverages and tobacco (Section IV) 2.1%. Total EU–Sudan goods trade was €730 million in 2025, split €463 million of EU imports and €267 million of EU exports. What the EU sends back is spread thinner: Machinery and appliances (Section XVI) at 19.6%, Mineral products (Section V) at 18.3% and Chemical products (Section VI) at 17.3%.
India implication: India's position here is on the import side of Sudan's ledger, not the export side — 12.7% of Sudanese imports, third behind Egypt and China. The gum arabic and oilseeds the page's India angle names sit in Section II, which is under a quarter of the EU-facing flow; an Indian buyer treating Sudan as an agricultural counterparty is trading in the minority section of a trade profile that is three-quarters minerals. The practical consequence is competition for the same scarce logistics — the trucks, the Port Sudan berths and the letters of credit are being bid for by mineral shippers with deeper pockets.
Outlook: Section shares in a war economy describe what can physically move, not what the country can produce. If Section V's 74.5% falls, that is the mineral corridor breaking rather than agriculture recovering — read the two sections against each other, not in isolation.
The single clearest structural change in Sudan's trade is directional. On the 2025 factsheet the United Arab Emirates absorbs 52.9% of Sudan's exports and Saudi Arabia 23.7% — together more than three-quarters of everything the country sells. Egypt, first on the import side at 24.7%, takes only 7.1% of exports; China, second on imports at 21.4%, takes 0.9%. The EU, which is 6th-order in both directions, accounts for roughly 2.2% of exports and 1.9% of imports. India sits third on the import side at 12.7% and does not appear in the published export ranking. Sudan now sells across the Red Sea and buys from everywhere else — an economy whose outbound trade has one destination region and whose inbound trade has four suppliers.
India implication: Third place on the import side is a real position and an underexploited one. It means Indian goods already clear Sudanese customs at scale, that the correspondent-banking and documentation paths exist, and that the counterparties are known — while Indian buying from Sudan is small enough not to register in the export table. The asymmetry is the opportunity: an Indian firm already selling in can add a return leg on gum arabic or sesame against the same relationship and the same freight, which is materially cheaper than opening a Sudan buying operation cold. The constraint is not commercial, it is the invitation-letter and consular reality: Sudan's Embassy in New Delhi requires an invitation letter approved by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Khartoum before the application is even lodged.
Outlook: Watch the UAE's 52.9%. A single destination that concentrated is the transmission channel for anything that happens to Sudanese exports, and any Indian buying position is priced off the Gulf bid rather than off Khartoum.
Sourced notes — every figure above, with where it was read and when.
Qualitative profile for orientation — confirm current figures and agreement status before acting.
Indian passport holders require a visa arranged in advance through the Sudanese embassy, but given the active conflict, tourism is not currently viable and travel should not be undertaken regardless of visa status.
Sudan uses the Sudanese pound (SDG). Capital: Khartoum.
Sudan participates in AfCFTA, the Arab League trade framework, and COMESA; there is no India–Sudan FTA, and current conflict conditions have significantly disrupted normal trade flows.
Sudan is currently experiencing a severe, active armed conflict with major humanitarian consequences, and virtually all governments advise against any travel to the country at this time.
Less than most travellers assume, and this is a separate question from whether a visa can be obtained. The US Department of State records that the U.S. Embassy in Khartoum suspended its operations on 22 April 2023, that the US government 'can no longer provide non-immigrant or immigrant visa services in Sudan', and that it 'cannot provide routine or emergency consular services to Americans in Sudan due to the current security situation' — emergencies are routed to the US Embassy in Cairo. The State Department's Sudan travel advisory of 15 May 2026 stands at Level 4, Do not travel, 'due to risk of unrest, crime, kidnapping, terrorism, landmines, and health threats'. Sudan's own foreign ministry domain did not resolve when checked on 19 August 2026. None of this changes the visa rule — Sudanese missions abroad are open and issuing, as the previous answer sets out — but it does mean in-country recovery options are thin, and that is the part to plan around.
Sourced notes — every figure above, with where it was read and when.
Developed by Amit Jain at allfrontierglobal.com
Neighbouring profiles in the same UN M49 region.
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