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Remittances are Sudan's quiet second economy

التحويلات: اقتصاد السودان الثاني الهادئ

2026-07-26

Ask an economist what keeps Sudanese households afloat and the honest answer is often: a relative in Riyadh, Dubai or Cairo. Official remittance figures run into the billions of dollars, and everyone agrees the true number is higher, because much of the money travels through informal channels.

Demography and remittances are the same story told twice. Sudan has exported labour for decades, mostly young men to the Gulf.

For families, the transfer is groceries and school fees. For the country, it is foreign exchange the banks barely see. Any population dashboard that ignores the diaspora is missing an organ.