Sectoral Structure and Political Economy in Sudan

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Periodical article

Title:	Sectoral Structure and Political Economy in Sudan
Author:	Suliman, Osman
Year:	1997
Periodical:	Northeast African Studies
Volume:	4
Issue:	1
Pages:	7-20
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Sudan
Subjects:	political economy agricultural policy Politics and Government Economics and Trade
External link:	http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/northeast_african_studies/v004/4.1.suliman.pdf
Abstract:	Sudan's abundance of resource endowments attracted foreign investments in the early 1970s. However, foreign capital inflow has been thwarted by the instability of the political system and the concomitant investment risk. Meanwhile, agriculture has continued to be the mainstay of the economy. This paper examines the sectoral structure and the underlying political economy of Sudan. The question of whether more investment plans must be directed toward traditional agriculture rather than modern agriculture remains controversial. The author argues that the promotion of the traditional subsector is more determinate on equity than it is on efficiency grounds. Thus, development of the traditional areas must be coordinated with that of modern agriculture with the intention of broadening the tax base and mobilizing savings to induce higher investment and hence generate the necessary complementary foreign exchange. In the long run, a more dynamic plan designed to enhance intersectoral linkages and domestic production of imported inputs is discernible. Notes, ref.