Sudanese civil servants are struggling to meet their basic daily living needs as wages remain stagnant against the skyrocketing cost of living. Food prices have reached record levels, compounded by the total collapse of the Sudanese Pound against the US Dollar.
As the war persists, the salaries of millions of employees have lost more than 80% of their purchasing power. A monthly salary that was 250,000 Sudanese Pounds (approximately $500) before the war is now worth barely $70. Meanwhile, the minimum cost of living for an average family of five has reached approximately 1,652,000 Sudanese Pounds ($485).
Rejection and Condemnation
The Sudanese Teachers’ Committee expressed its profound astonishment at statements made by Finance Minister Gibril Ibrahim regarding the High Council for Wages initiating salary increases for state employees.
The Finance Minister stated that salary increases would be implemented gradually to avoid raising the inflation rate. In response, the Committee announced its refusal and resistance to any increase that does not account for the deteriorating living conditions suffered by teachers.
The Committee emphasized that such actions demonstrate a “clear disregard” for the right of workers and their families to a dignified life, leaving them unable to meet basic needs. They described the Minister’s statement as a reflection of a “policy of unfair looting of the people’s resources.”
Worsening Conditions
Al-Sadiq Omar, a senior official in a government ministry, says he is no longer able to meet his family’s daily needs. “If it weren’t for the support of my eldest brother, an expatriate living abroad who sends me about $200 (equivalent to 700,000 Sudanese Pounds) a month, life would have ground to a halt.”
Speaking to Mashaweer, he added: “The living situation has worsened to an unbearable extent. Prices of consumer goods have increased more than fivefold in just a few months following the collapse of the pound.”
He continued: “All the promises of the so-called ‘Government of Hope’ have gone with the wind. As long as this war continues, the situation will spiral toward the worst due to escalating military spending.”
A Gaping Chasm
Samia Abdelqader, an employee at a government ministry, says the deterioration is caused by the “ever-widening gap between wages and the cost of living.” She notes that this gap has crossed the boundaries of normal poverty into “extreme poverty,” defined as those earning less than $2 a day.
She told Mashaweer: “The value of most state employees’ wages has dropped to less than $1.50 [per day].”
“It is truly regrettable,” she added, “that the government, and the Ministry of Finance in particular, are fully aware of the daily insane price hikes and the steady increases in all government fees, while employees’ salaries have remained stuck at the same station they were at four years ago.”
Appalling Deterioration
In the same vein, the Coordination of Sudanese Professionals and Trade Unions issued a statement on the deterioration of wages and living conditions.
The statement explained that due to the unprecedented decline of the Sudanese Pound and the insane rise in prices amidst the ongoing war, the basic wages of all state employees have eroded and no longer represent anything relative to daily costs.
Two separate studies by the Coordination and the Teachers’ Committee revealed that while the minimum cost of living for a family of five is 1,652,000 SDG ($485), the basic minimum wage has remained fixed since 2022 at 12,000 SDG ($3.50 per month) for Grade 17 (the bottom of the career ladder). Even for the highest civil service grades, salaries do not exceed $60.
Fixed Wages
Economic specialist Diaa Saeed observes that since the pound began its slide against foreign currencies, the national currency’s purchasing power has plummeted. However, the decline over the past year was the largest in Sudan’s history. After a year of relative stability where the dollar jumped from 570 to 2,500 pounds, the pound fell again to exceed 3,000 per dollar.
“Trade in Sudan has been heavily impacted,” Saeed noted. “Businesses set prices based on dollar fluctuations, often calculating according to the higher parallel market rate, while the innocent Sudanese citizen bears the brunt of these increases.”
He pointed out that during the last four years where wages remained unchanged, an average employee’s salary dropped from the equivalent of $600–$800 per month to just $52. This has led to a dangerous decline in purchasing power, making salaries insufficient for even the bare minimum of survival.
The economist concluded that citizens are facing “immense suffering and complexities” under the current conditions of war.
