The black market exchange rate between the South Sudanese pound and the dollar dropped since yesterday in the capital city Juba, while different rates were used in towns elsewhere in the Equatoria region.

After high volatility in the Juba currency markets yesterday with reported rates between 12 and 15 pounds to the dollar, the price of the dollar eased somewhat today, according to local traders. Two sources in Juba said that the rate today was 10:1 and a third source said 9:1.

But at the border crossing at Kaya in Central Equatoria this morning the exchange rate was 13 to 15 SSP per dollar, according to traders. In Yei town, the dollar was selling at 12 to 15 pounds. Elsewhere, a resident of Magwi in Eastern Equatoria said the rate there was about 12 SSP per dollar.

In Nimule, the most important border crossing with Uganda, traders said on Tuesday that dollar shortages were acute but they reported the rate there was about 10 to 1.

Speaking today, some traders in Nimule explained they had stopped getting dollars from either commercial banks or forex bureaus operating in the country and have now resorted to the black market for dollar purchases.

“I stopped getting dollars from either commercial banks or forex bureau long time ago because it was not easy getting the dollars from the commercial banks and forex bureau even before the current crisis. The source of dollars was from the black market,” said a trader from Jonglei doing retail business in Nimule.

“It used to buy it from around 2 pound to one dollar and later it moved to 3 pound to a dollar before the oil was closed down in 2012 during which it moved from 3 pound to a dollar to 5 pound to a dollar and then dropped to 4 pound to a dollar but it never reached 10 pound to a dollar like it is today,” said the businessman in Nimule.

Meanwhile, South Sudan's central bank has held the exchange rate at 3.16 pounds to the dollar in the interbank market.

Related:

Volatility in dollar-pound exchange rate in Juba (18 May)