The Sil’ati Programme in Sudan and Poverty Reduction

Walid Dalil
Dr Kamil Idris recently issued a decision to dissolve the Board of Directors of the Sudanese Consumer Goods Company (Sil’ati) as part of the reorganisation of government institutions, while continuing efforts to address market distortions and protect consumers.
The Sil’ati programme is considered one of the principal economic instruments adopted by the Sudanese government to confront the sharp rise in poverty rates, which reached approximately 71% of the population in 2025. The programme aims directly to protect citizens’ purchasing power as a line of defence against the risk of sliding into extreme poverty.
The concept of the programme can be summarised in the following points:
Nature: A government-owned company affiliated with the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning and the Ministry of Trade, known as the Sudanese Consumer Goods Company.
Mechanism: The programme relies on direct contracting with local producers and factories in order to bypass intermediaries and brokers, thereby reducing the final cost of goods.
Distribution: Goods are distributed primarily through cooperative societies in residential neighbourhoods and workplaces, using the national identification number to ensure support reaches those entitled to it.
Components: The programme covers around 10 essential commodities, including sugar, cooking oil, flour, rice, lentils, and other items that form part of the citizen’s basic food basket.
The Role of the Programme in Combating Poverty
The programme contributes to poverty reduction through several strategic dimensions:
Reducing the cost of living:
The programme significantly lowers the prices of essential commodities—sometimes by as much as 40% compared with free market prices—allowing low-income households to secure their food needs at lower cost.
Empowering vulnerable groups through cooperatives:
The programme relies on cooperative societies as a community-based platform. According to international organisations such as the United Nations, cooperatives are among the most effective tools for reducing poverty because they provide poorer groups with access to services, finance, and representation of their interests.
Stabilising market prices:
By providing a government alternative at factory prices, the programme acts as a restraint on monopolistic practices and speculative price increases by certain traders, which are among the principal drivers of impoverishment.
Social protection:
The programme focuses on strategic commodities that households cannot do without, thereby providing a food security safety net in the context of economic crises and conflict.
Importance of the Programme
Combating price inflation:
It provides goods at prices 20% to 40% lower than market prices, largely due to the elimination of intermediary trading layers.
Breaking monopolies:
The programme aims to end the control of essential commodities by large traders and monopolistic networks, thereby stabilising market prices.
Reviving cooperative activity:
It seeks to restore the role of cooperative societies as community-based structures that ensure fairness in distribution.
Supporting local production:
Priority is given to local factories and producers through government contracts, thereby contributing to economic activity and domestic production.
Major Causes of the Programme’s Failure or Disruption
Exchange rate fluctuations and inflation:
The continuous rise in foreign currency exchange rates against the Sudanese pound has led to dramatic increases in production and import costs. This inflation made the prices agreed upon under the programme unsustainable for producers.
Withdrawal of major companies:
Reports revealed that several large commercial companies that had contracted with the programme withdrew due to economic instability and rising commodity prices, which in some cases increased by up to 40%, weakening the programme’s competitiveness.
Supply chain and logistics challenges:
The programme faced serious difficulties transporting and distributing goods between states and localities, due to fuel shortages, disruptions in transport networks, and deteriorating infrastructure—particularly under conditions of war and conflict.
Weak financing and liquidity:
The programme suffered from insufficient government funding needed to purchase large quantities of goods directly from factories, leading to severe shortages and disruptions in distribution schedules.
Administrative and structural problems:
Frequent management changes and the resignation of some officials—such as the programme director’s resignation in 2021—created organisational instability. The company also faced criticism concerning weak oversight of distribution through cooperative societies.
Impact of the war:
The war led to the destruction or looting of numerous industrial facilities and commodity warehouses, disrupting the national production cycle upon which the programme relied to bypass intermediaries.

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