BRIEFING: Sudan's debt
February 2011
Sudan owes a huge $35 billion debt to the rest of the world. Deciding how this debt will be split between North and South Sudan is one of the key decisions to be made if South Sudan is to secede in July 2011.
Some keys facts about Sudan's debt:
- Much of Sudan’s $35 billion debt comes from loans to the dictator Gaarfar Nimeiry in the 1970s and 1980s, when the country was a Western ally in the Cold War.
- It has since increased massively due to extortionate interest rates - almost 60 per cent is interest ($20 billion).
- The UK claims it is owed over $1 billion, yet 90 per cent of this is due to interest rates of over 10 per cent per year.
- The UK’s share of Sudan’s debt is owed to the Department for Dodgy Deals, which has refused to say how the debt was first created.