By Kiden Stela Mandela
The economy of our country has been in distress for decades now and the way ahead still murky. The institutions overseeing the state of the economy have been trying to fix things, but their efforts appear to be not succeeding in addressing the situation. This is being manifested with the weaknesses of the Pounds, with the current trends ranging from 900 to 1,000 South Sudanese pounds per dollar.
Economy is basically the resources and wealth of the country which are turned into production and, at the end, consumption in terms of goods and services. And it’s the systematic or cautious management of the resources available in the country. As such, monetary value comes into play to measure the standards of the goods and services in order to acquire them. Hence, the supply of money in the hands of people, and public treasury or accounts aligned with economic policy and other laws.
It’s not a surprise for those who have been monitoring how the state of the economy has been handled with the ballooning strength of dollar against South Sudanese pounds. These are the results of breakdown of law and order (mismanagement of resources with impunity), bankruptcies, and insecurity, among other things. We are cash strapped economy, as the hard currency is less both in the markets and in the reserves.
The central bank releases dollars to the markets in order to strengthen the pound, and traders to access them, but it lacks backups from other sectors of the economy like production, trade, and infrastructure, which, in the end, supply the money back to the bank.
The lack of strong economic system, followed by sustainable peace, is the one making lives of the citizens very hard every day. The government needs to factor these very well because what’s holding the country is the economy. If it collapses, then it may reach a point where even the government’s ability to function is threatened and there will be no service delivery to the citizens.
There should be an effort by the government to uphold peace, security, and fight against corruption in public offices. Otherwise, it will not be an easy thing for civil servants who have low earning. Also, the poor citizens who have nothing completely are a question, Mark? Either half of the country will be dying secretly or with little information to the leaders is yet unknown. This kind of crisis is too much and unbearable in a country like South Sudan with a lot of resources.
Everyday our pockets are drying up and our family’s economic power is draining; the end result is vicious circle poverty without any hope. I’m calling on the government and institutions tasked with handling the country’s economy to address the economic situation. Government needs to support people in times of difficulties like this. We the citizens should not be bought during election time with millions of pounds for us to vote for you (leaders) or have your support instead, make our lives better now by improving the economy so that we vote for you.
God Bless South Sudan
Be right there.