By Adia Jildo
The Minister of Finance and Planning Agak Acuil Lual said the weekly auctioning of US dollars is a short term remedy to the run-away inflation as it aims to draw back the amount of pounds in the market circulation to stabilize the foreign exchange.
South Sudan is experiencing economic hardship as prices of commodities skyrocket due to hyperinflation, making vulnerable population struggling to survive.
The Bank of South Sudan (BOSS) has recently increased its auctioning of the foreign currency to 13 million United States dollars to the Forex Bureaus and Commercial Banks weekly in a bid to reduce inflation.
On the 11th June 2022, the governor of the Bank of South Sudan Moses Makur Deng told the media that his interest of auctioning the US$13 million weekly was to stabilize the economy amidst the fast rising inflation.
“This is just a remedy to reduce the number of pounds in the market, buy them back to the bank and that will keep the dollar steady. Auction is a remedy to the price issues, the remedy to the dollar that is rising” Agak said.
He stated that the country’s over dependence on importation of goods left the country to lose its foreign currency to the outside market.
He cited agriculture in South Sudan as a long term solution to reduce inflation as food items will be cultivated locally for consumption and foreign currency will be used to procure essential commodity that the country does not have.
“The real solution for food item prices is the security. If the security is stable in our country, everybody will go out and cultivate” he said citing the importance of security stability to boost the agricultural sector.
The Minister added that the Country depends too much on imported goods and much of the Forex exchange is to procure goods from outside the country hence imported goods might tend to carry along expenses from the country of origin.
“Now we are buying everything from out that means if the prices from outside are high, then the prices of the commodity will eventually go up” he said. “Most of the expenses are because we buy goods from outside and do not produce”.
Agak however blamed the Russian-Ukrainian war for also contributing to the rise of commodity prices as crude oil decreases leading to high cost of transportation.