Economy · Imports of goods and services · Sudan
Sudan’s imports of goods and services rose to 1.3% of GDP in 2025.
1.3% of GDP
2025
Up 0 pp from 2024.
Updated 8 Oct 2026
In plain words
1.3% of GDP
What it is. This measure adds up the value of all goods and services Sudan buys from abroad in a year and divides it by the size of the economy. Fuel, food, machinery and medicines count as goods, while freight, travel and insurance count as services. Domestic production and any trade that goes unrecorded fall outside it. The ratio also moves with the size of GDP and with the exchange rate used to convert foreign purchases into local terms.
Neither way is good in itself. A higher share can mean an economy that is open to trade and can afford foreign inputs, or one that leans heavily on outside supply. A lower share can mean self-reliance, or too little foreign currency to buy what is needed. Sudan's latest figure is 1.3% of GDP for 2025, level with 1.3% of GDP a year earlier. Since 2016 the range runs from a low of 1.1% of GDP in 2022 to a high of 17.7% of GDP in 2019. The current reading therefore sits close to the bottom of that range.
Why it matters. At 1.3% of GDP, foreign goods and services make up a very small part of what the Sudanese economy spends. Households and firms are likely to find imported fuel, medicines and machinery parts in short supply, and the state collects little from taxes on trade. The fall from 17.7% of GDP in 2019 is large enough that the 2025 figure is worth checking against the underlying trade and GDP data.
| Period | Imports of goods and services · Sudan |
|---|---|
| 2016 | 10.3% of GDP |
| 2017 | 11.7% of GDP |
| 2018 | 14.2% of GDP |
| 2019 | 17.7% of GDP |
| 2020 | 4.8% of GDP |
| 2021 | 1.9% of GDP |
| 2022 | 1.1% of GDP |
| 2023 | 1.4% of GDP |
| 2024 | 1.3% of GDP |
| 2025 | 1.3% of GDP |
Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators (CC BY 4.0) · Licence: CC BY 4.0
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Strata-AF™ Data, Imports of goods and services, Sudan, 2025; source World Bank, World Development Indicators (CC BY 4.0), retrieved 8 Oct 2026; https://data.strata-af.com/economy/imports/sudan
Data insights · Worked out from the published figures
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Working this out from the published figures…
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Methodology
Imports of goods and services as a share of GDP. Unit: % of GDP.
Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators (series NE.IMP.GNFS.ZS), retrieved through the World Bank API and published under CC BY 4.0. Updated annually; the World Bank's own source notes apply.