The World Bank (WB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) organized a technical workshop yesterday to provide the Sudanese authorities with factual information and objective analysis on issues related to the country’s soaring external debt.
Representatives from both the Government of National Unity and the Government of Southern Sudan as well as observers from a number of creditor governments participated in the meeting, WB website announced.WB Sudan Country Manager Alassane Sow said Sudan needed to develop a strategy to address the enormous challenges arising from of its external debt.
Mr. Sow explained that the strategy was based on a full understanding of the technical nature of the problem, and lessons learned from other countries’ experiences in managing large external debt burdens.
IMF representative Alan Macarthur said his institution’s objective was to ensure that national policymakers were well informed about the complex issues surrounding Sudan’s external debt.
Sudan currently has a large external debt burden at 35.7 billion US dollars and significant arrears to international creditors.
The external debt includes arrears of 600 million dollars to the International Development Association and around 1.6 billion dollars to the IMF.