FOREIGN POLICY/SUDAN: “In the capital of a country widely deemed a pariah state, the hustle is always on…
But nearly two decades of U.S.-led international economic sanctions, which the U.S. delayed lifting last week, have locked this nation of 40 million people out of the Western financial system and spooked many investors.
The financial isolation—along with the strategically important country’s designation as a terror sponsor and the International Criminal Court’s pursuit of longtime President Omar al-Bashir for war crimes—has fostered a special kind of business acumen in executive suites and sand-caked streets: forcing businesses in this former colonial outpost to snare alternative sources of finance, sidestep trade barriers and find creative ways to import consumer goods.
The International Monetary Fund says investments from Persian Gulf states have been critical in keeping this struggling economy afloat, especially after 2011, when the oil-rich south seceded to become independent South Sudan, taking most of the country’s revenue with it.”
-Matina Stevis, “Sudan Gets Down to Business in the Face of Sanctions and Strife,” The Wall Street Journal online, July 18, 2017 10:41am