llicit financial flows (IFFs) have long undermined the Sudanese economy, enabling those profiting from grand corruption—including ruling elites, corporate tycoons within the security establishment, and their business associates—to transfer their ill-gotten gains abroad. A 2020 report by Global Financial Integrity (GFI) estimated that Sudan lost $5.7 billion to IFFs between 2012 and 2018, with the oil and gold sectors serving as primary channels for these economic losses. Since the outbreak of the latest conflict in Sudan on April 15, 2023, the rise of a war economy has introduced new patterns of IFFs. Originally written before the war and delayed in publication due to the urgency of addressing the crisis, this paper aims to provide an overview of the pre-war landscape, laying the groundwork for STPT’s ongoing research that seeks to expose how IFFs are shifting in the aftermath of the conflict.
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