By William Madouk
Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) Secretary-General, Peter Lam Both says that the party has now taken a lead in taming the volatile economy in the country.
Mr. Lam made this remark on Monday at the swearing-in of Gen. Augustino Jadalla Kamilo, Elia Richard Box, and Gola Boyoi Gola as the state SPLM Chairmans of Central and Western Equatoria State plus Pibor Administrative Area.
“I want to congratulate Comrade Chairman Salva Kiir Mayardit for listening to the voices of our citizens who are crying because the economy is getting difficult,” said Lam.
According to the secretary general, President Kiir has tasked the economic cluster and SPLM economic taskforce to handle runaway inflation and bring down the ever-increasing dollar rate.
“And he [Kiir] has authorized a number of action points that must be addressed by the SPLM Economic Task Force and the economic cluster of the government,” he stated.
“So, in the next few days, certain changes must happen, and I think you have seen some of it now with the exchange rate coming down, and it will go down more because SPLM has now taken the driver’s seat,” Lam added.
Besides, the Vice President for Economic Cluster, Dr. James Wani Igga, who is also the first deputy Chairman of the SPLM, said, “I would like to tell you that subsided food commodities have arrived in Juba, without any lie.”
He added that there will be designated shops scattered around Juba to sell out subsidy supplies for a period of six months; afterward, the government will do an evaluation while turning its focus to agriculture.
“But it is going to be a relief! but fetched it so that we could tame volatile commodity prices in the market. Their prices are up, and our prices are going to be 45% or half of their prices, and people will not buy from them [traders] but from us,” Igga remarked.
‘So, automatically and economically, the prices will drop, and we will do the same with the fuel, and the rest will follow. So, this is to give hope—a realistic hope that your government is not sleeping,” he continued.
In a separate event, the ministry of trade and industry on Monday rolled out subsided food commodities centers in Juba.
William Anyuon Kuol, the national minister of trade, said the initiative is aimed at stabilizing commodity prices and enabling citizens to afford to buy food.
The subsided supplies will be transported to about 37 centers in Juba town and will be sold at 50 percent lower prices than actual prices in the markets.
He cited that the initiative would be extended to all 10 states and three administrative areas.
Mr. Kuol disclosed that a monitoring committee was formed to ensure that food is only sold to citizens and not unscrupulous traders.
Mr. Chol Deng Kiir, the operations manager of Ramciel Company, an implementing partner, revealed that the selling of commodities is expected to start next week.
He noted that thousands of thousands of metric tons of assorted food items were already in the store, and they would receive more food that would be distributed to the designated centers.