Цены на топливо: Sudan

Fuel Prices in Sudan: Why Pump Costs Stay Low

Sudan has some of the cheapest fuel in the world. A liter of gasoline retails for about $0.70 USD, which works out to roughly $2.65 per US gallon. Diesel is even cheaper at around $0.656 per liter. In local money, gasoline sells for approximately 356.1 SDG per liter. By global standards these are bargain numbers: against a world average of about $1.484 per liter, Sudan's gasoline costs less than half. That positions the country at rank 15 out of 170 nations tracked from cheapest to most expensive.

What Actually Drives Sudan's Pump Prices

Three forces explain why drivers in Khartoum, Port Sudan, and Omdurman pay so little at the pump: state subsidies, domestic crude production, and a deeply depreciated currency. Sudan is an oil producer, and for years the government held retail fuel prices well below import cost by absorbing the difference through subsidies. Heavily subsidized fuel is the single biggest reason a liter sells near $0.70 rather than the unsubsidized level seen in net importers.

The second factor is the Sudanese pound (SDG). The currency has lost enormous value against the US dollar over the past decade, battered by inflation, sanctions history, and the economic shock of armed conflict. When a currency collapses, prices quoted in dollars can look strikingly cheap to outsiders even as locals feel the squeeze — because their wages are paid in the same weakened pound. So the $0.70 figure is partly real subsidy and partly an artifact of the exchange rate.

The third factor is fuel taxation. Unlike high-tax European markets where excise duties can double the pump price, Sudan applies very light taxes on motor fuels. Low tax plus active subsidy is the classic combination that produces ultra-cheap gasoline. You see the same pattern across other producer states and subsidized economies — compare Sudan with Azerbaijan and Bahrain, both oil-rich and both keeping retail prices far below the global mean.

Subsidies, Conflict, and an Uncertain Trend

The catch with subsidized fuel is fiscal strain. Sudan's government has repeatedly tried to cut or remove fuel subsidies to ease pressure on the budget, often under pressure from international lenders. Each attempt tends to push pump prices up sharply and trigger public anger, since cheap fuel is one of the few tangible benefits households still rely on. The ongoing instability since 2023 has further disrupted refining, distribution, and import logistics, meaning availability — not just price — is a daily concern in many regions. Shortages and informal-market premiums can mean the real cost of a fill-up is higher than the official liter price suggests.

Because no reliable recent high/low history is published here, the safest read is that Sudan's headline price stays low by design but sits on shaky ground: any subsidy reform or sharper currency slide could move it quickly. Diesel matters disproportionately too, because it powers freight, generators, and agriculture — so the $0.656 diesel figure has outsized impact on the broader cost of living.

For context on how Sudan stacks up against other emerging and energy-exporting economies, it's worth comparing with Kazakhstan and import-reliant Vietnam, or browsing the full table of world fuel prices to see exactly where the cheapest and most expensive markets sit.

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