Widespread destruction, massive military spending and plummeting oil and gold revenues have left Sudan's economy in "very difficult times", army-aligned finance minister Gibril Ibrahim said, nearly three years into the army's war with rival paramilitary forces.

In an interview with AFP from his office in Port Sudan, Ibrahim said the government is eyeing deals for Red Sea ports and private investment to help rebuild infrastructure.

This week, Sudan's prime minister announced the government's official return to Khartoum, recaptured last year, but Ibrahim's ministry is among those yet to fully return.

Dressed in combat uniform, the former rebel leader said Sudan, already one of the world's poorest countries before the war, "lost all sources of state revenue in the beginning of the war", when the Rapid Support Forces overtook the capital Khartoum and its surroundings.

"Most of the industry, most of the big companies and all of the economic activity was concentrated in the centre," he said, saying the heartland had accounted for some 80 percent of state revenue.

Ibrahim's ex-rebel group the Justice and Equality Movement once battled Khartoum's government but it has fought on........

© Al Monitor