When Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary, was in Sudan in January he offered 40m in aid to help its poorest people, who are facing unprecedented food scarcity in a debt-laden country where austerity is deepening.
Sudan, ruled by an unelected military-led transitional government after longtime ruler Omar al-Bashir was deposed in 2019, owes the UK almost 900m. But the Observer can reveal that almost 80% of that was accrued from interest, leading to calls for an unconditional debt amnesty.
Through what appears reminiscent of a structural adjustment programme, the impoverished north African country, which defaulted on its loans in 1984, is under pressure from lenders to impose austerity measures, including reduced public spending and slashed s…
Read the full article at: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/mar/28/four-fifths-of-sudans-861m-debt-to-uk-is-interest
