Sudan hopes lifting of US sanctions can revive economy.

In one of his final acts as US president, Barack Obama issued an Executive Order on 13 January authorising “expanded trade with and investment in Sudan”, as well as outlining a route to permanently revoke US sanctions on the country in July this year. Sudan’s economy is crumbling under the multiple burdens of sanctions, a falling oil price, and, crucially, the loss of oil reserves and production to the new state of South Sudan. The roadmap outlined by President Obama offers a slight hope of a reversal in the sluggish fortunes of a frontier oil sector occupied largely by minnows.