Residents of Rumbek town in South Sudan’s Lakes State complain about high prices of food and other essential communities in the market.
Speaking to Radio Tamazuj on Sunday, several residents said they are suffering as the prices increased due to the unfavourable rate of the US dollar. The residents fear the prices will not drop in the near future but will only continue to rise.
Gisma Mangar Bol, a resident of Rumbek town, said: “I have come to buy some items in the market, but I got a huge difference in prices. If you want to buy sugar, for example, you will get a big difference between previous days and now, and when you ask a trader to explain the reason why the prices have gone up, traders would tell you that there is an increase in the rate of the US dollar.”
“Now, the price of 50 kg of maize flour is selling at 42,000 SSP, and 50 kg of sugar costs 57,000 SSP. Last month, 50 kg of maize flow was selling at 35,000 SSP, and 50 kg of sugar was 48,000 SSP. Now, the traders have increased the prices a lot in the market,” she added.
Another resident, Mathew Mawou Marial, said that the prices in shops keep changing every day in Rumbek market.
“Now, I got 50 kg of maize flour being sold at 45,000 SSP while in last few days ago, it was 35,000 SSP. So the traders have added 10,000 SSP to the previous price because the US dollar has increased. Some people are suffering, and not every person gets US dollars. Only a few people are the ones receiving US dollars. We are suffering; everything has gone up in the market,” he said.
“We are requesting the government to look into the issue of the US dollar. In the coming months, there will be an issue of poor condition of roads because of rains. Let the government find a solution,” he added.
Fereter Palow, an Ethiopian trader in the Rumbek market, said: “50 kg of maize flour is sold at 39,000 SSP, 25 kg of sugar and Azam cost 26,000 SSP each, oil is sold at 30,000 SSP and 25 kg of rice is selling at 23,000 SSP.”
The trader confirmed that the prices of essential communities have sharply increased.
Meanwhile, the chairman of the traders union in Rumbek, Jima Gar Maluac, attributed the rise in prices of communities to the increase in the US dollar rate.
“In Rumbek today, the rate of 100 US dollars is 100,000 SSP, and the prices have followed the dollar too. So the traders should not be blamed for the price increase because the dollar has increased. The traders are receiving a lot of complaints now from the local citizens in the market that they are the problem, but the issue is the dollar rate which keeps increasing every day,” he said.
For his part, the mayor of Rumbek municipality, Peter Maliath Chieny, said that the issue of high prices in the market is a global issue.
“The demand of the people is high, and that’s why you see a high price increase. Last month the government of Lakes State purchased grains from Sudan, and the council of ministers sat down and determined the price. The grains will be sold, and the resolution came out that one bag of grains should be sold at 25,000 SSP, and these prices were set to allow citizens to afford the prices. These grains are in the government store,” he concluded.