2010, of which US$31 billion is in arrears, is unsustainable.

A resolution to the
debt problem will improve prospects for sustained growth and poverty
reduction. It is extremely unlikely for Sudan to achieve a sustainable external
debt position without generous debt relief within the framework of available
international initiatives, including HIPCs initiative. Sudan in anxious for
dialogue with international financial institutions (IFIs) and other creditors with
the aim of establishing wide support for arrears clearance and debt relief.

The CPA, MDGs, and Sudan

5. The comprehensive peace agreement (CPA) - signed in 2005 between the
Government of Sudan and Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) - had
put an end to the civil war and opened unprecedented opportunities for peace,
development, and prosperity. The CPA and the adoption of the Interim National
Constitution (INC) in 2005 provided the frameworks for the alignment of
resources toward broad-based, sustained development and poverty reduction.
The Constitution and the CPA recognized that the realization of the MDGs was
a prerequisite for achieving socio-economic stability in Sudan. In 2006, a
Strategic Advisory Council was established to develop a 25 year development
plan for Sudan and the resulting National Strategic Plan (2007- 2031) included
strong references and commitments to the MDGs. Furthermore, Sudan also has
launched a Five-Year Development Plan (2012-2016) to serve as a growth
oriented strategy with a primary focus on sustainable development and poverty
reduction in the medium-term.

6. The CPA's oil wealth sharing provided for a roughly 50:50 sharing of
revenues from oil produced in the Southern Sudan between the two parts of the
country. The self-determination referendum for South Sudan, provided for in the
CPA, was held in January 2011 and over 98 percent of votes cast was in favor of
the secession of South Sudan. This became effective on July 9, 2011. During the
transition period, the authorities of the North and the South entered into
negotiations on a number of post-referendum issues, namely oil wealth sharing,
debt apportionment, currency, citizenship, borders, and the status of Abyei area.
The transition period planned to be six months has already lapsed but the
negotiations have not been concluded.

7. The preparation of the IPRSP was initiated after the South's self-
determination referendum but before the actual separation of the South. The
analysis of historical macroeconomic performance and references to past
policies refers to all Sudan. While national accounts data available are for all
Sudan, demographic data and estimates of measures of poverty and social
indicators are available for North Sudan, permitting the analysis and profiling of
poverty in North Sudan alone For post 2010, the use of Sudan in the document
is for the new nation that has emerged from the former North Sudan,

Objective of the Interim Poverty Reduction Strategy

Paper (IPRSP)
8. The next two years will be a difficult transition and adjustment period for
Sudan. The immense political change by the separation of North and South
Sudan underscores the urgent need for the North to use the IPRSP initiative as
one of the instruments to begin to elaborate a vision and new direction for its
governance, socio-economic development and poverty reduction efforts. The
IPRSP will support complement existing planning and budgeting instruments,
including the 3-Year Salvation Economic Program (2012-2014) and the 5-Year
Development Plan (2012-2016), by strengthening the prioritization of actions
and targeting poverty. The 3-Year Salvation Economic Program (SEP) is an
emergency plan to deal with the adjustment to new political and economic
realities following the decision of the South to secede. The IPRSP will help to
fine tune the