We cannot solve exactly what we do not know, learn the problem first
Many households have not been left at peace with this fresh but chronic inflation in town. Still grappling with effects of flooding, the Covid-19 pandemic and conflicts; the current rise in prices of goods have left people devastated.
Many now struggle to afford a meal a day. The lovers of chicken are lamenting after its price shot up from 2000 SSP to 3,200 SSP within a week. Lucky enough, soap is still 500 SSP a bar from the time Russia decided to hold many economies at its mercies when it invaded Ukraine. Nonetheless, a sharp rise in prices of basic necessities always breeds fear and restlessness. A Liter of Petroleum this morning was 750 SSP and Boda-Boda riders are already using it to their advantage, at the cost of the residents.
With majority of families in our context earning less than a Dollar a day, these devastating effects of inflation are not what the country needs to hear. Citizens need a lasting solution from experts to these economic issues, which most are not even learned of. Do we have those experts though!
A mere “the economy has collapsed, inflation” from the mouth of somebody does not mean that they know what they are saying because if you asked them to define what economy meant, some will probably mention the existence of the USD on the market, a drastic rise in prices, a drop in value of the local currency and that is what they would conclude as the economy!
Worse still, in South Sudan, item prices do not fall even after a few of the causes of their sharp increase are taken care of – that is why we need a lot of knowledge on what the country’s economy actually is and only then shall we be able to deal with inflation especially when it is caused by avoidable internal factors.