Economic Recovery and the Fight Against Poverty
Walid Dalil
In its new report, Poverty, Prosperity, and the Planet, the World Bank noted that eliminating poverty as defined for nearly half of the world’s population—those living on less than US$6.85 per day—could take more than a century if progress continues at the current slow pace.
The report provides the first global assessment of progress towards ending poverty and promoting shared prosperity on a livable planet following the subsiding of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The World Bank confirmed that the global target to eradicate extreme poverty, defined as US$2.15 per person per day, by 2030 is now out of reach. Eliminating poverty at this level may take three decades or more, particularly in low-income countries.
Approximately 700 million people—about 8.5% of the world’s population—currently live on less than US$2.15 per day, and 7.3% of the global population is expected to remain in extreme poverty by 2030. Extreme poverty remains concentrated in countries affected by fragility and persistently low economic growth, many of which are located in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Today, 44% of the world’s population lives on less than US$6.85 per day, the poverty line for the upper-middle-income country group. The number of people living below this threshold has not changed significantly since 1990 due to population growth.
Poverty is more than a lack of income or resources or the absence of a sustainable livelihood. Its manifestations include hunger, malnutrition, limited access to education and basic services, social discrimination, exclusion, and the lack of opportunities to participate in decision-making.
In 2015, more than 736 million people lived below the international poverty line, with around 10% of the world’s population (pre-pandemic) experiencing extreme poverty and struggling to meet basic needs such as healthcare, education, water, and sanitation. There were 122 women aged 25–34 living in poverty for every 100 men in the same age group, and more than 160 million children are at risk of continuing to live in extreme poverty by 2030.
As of October 2024, the number of people in Sudan in need of humanitarian assistance reached 28.9 million, including 16.9 million requiring life-saving aid, according to the Government Humanitarian Aid Commission. Meanwhile, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) stated in its latest report that 30.4 million people will require humanitarian assistance in 2025.
In its most recent report, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) announced that the number of people fleeing the ongoing conflict in Sudan has risen to nearly 15 million. The organisation reported that the total number of displaced people increased by 27% in the previous year, reaching 11.56 million internally displaced persons, while 3.35 million crossed borders into neighbouring countries. It also noted that 84% of displaced households—around 2.3 million families—require food assistance, while 78% need non-food items, particularly shelter and fuel.
The post-conflict recovery period is expected to be prolonged. Therefore, greater emphasis must be placed on developmental and agricultural sectors, addressing factors that reduce agricultural productivity through coordination with relevant environmental bodies, and prioritising the fight against desertification.
The war and displacement in Sudan have also disrupted the environmental balance. As people flee conflict and return to rural areas, reconstruction often relies on scarce natural resources vital to ecosystems. This includes deforestation and the conversion of traditional migration routes and grazing lands into agricultural land. Such practices accelerate desertification, worsen drought conditions, and risk reigniting conflict.
The causes of the country’s economic crises include:
* The accumulation of errors stems from misguided policies, notably borrowing from the banking system and injecting excessive liquidity. Economic policy must shift towards reform to prevent the destruction of a resource-rich economy such as Sudan’s.
* The need to reduce government expenditure and review central bank policies.
* The necessity of revising the state’s indicative budgets, visiting production areas in the states, resolving outstanding agricultural problems, and avoiding overreliance on foreign loans while neglecting Sudan’s own resources.
* Granting additional incentives to expatriates to attract remittances through state banks, alongside decisive measures to curb the smuggling of gold and gum arabic.
* Tackling inflation, whose primary driver is rising commodity prices—especially foodstuffs produced locally, such as locally grown wheat (now more expensive than imported wheat), grains, sugar, and meat, which together account for 56% of inflationary pressures.
Effective solutions also require:
* Developing key resources;
* Combating waste, corruption, nepotism, monopolies, dumping, and money laundering;
* Expanding financial inclusion and activating its mechanisms;
* Strengthening the supervisory role of the central bank to reform the banking system;
* Removing contradictions between laws governing banking operations and the work of financial institutions;
* Improving the regulation of financial markets to attract domestic and foreign savings;
* Establishing a programme to upgrade exports.
All of this demands serious preparation and sustained effort, particularly in addressing external debt.
Banking Expert
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