Finance

News

South Sudan: saddled with IFI debt?

17 February 2011

With South Sudan set to become the world’s newest – and potentially poorest – country in July, a big question remains about what should be done with Khartoum’s $37.8 billion foreign debt, including around $1.6 billion owed to the IMF and $600 million to the World Bank. The Sudanese government, which has been unable to borrow from the IMF since 1984 and from the World Bank since 1993 because of arrears, has urged creditors to write off the debt. UK NGO Jubilee Debt Campaign argues South Sudan “should not be born into debt” and urged any inherited arrears to be cancelled without conditions attached.