Commodity Price Increase Hits Western Bahr el Ghazal Commodity prices have highly increased in Western Bahr el Ghazal State in just a month to the South Sudan’s Independence Day on 9th/ July; while Southern traders accuse the NCP for blockading its borders to stimulate economic tensions amongst the South’s people. 26 May 2011 Commodity Price Increase Hits Western Bahr el Ghazal Perishable goods traders in Wau’s main market of Jow [©Gurtong]
By James Deng Dimo WAU, 25th May, 2011 [Gurtong] - Commodity prices have highly increased in Western Bahr el Ghazal State in just a month to the South Sudan’s Independence Day on 9th/ July; while Southern traders accuse the NCP for blockading its borders to stimulate economic tensions amongst the South’s people. In an exclusive interview with Gurtong in Wau, the head of State Chamber of Commerce, Wol Charles Aleu, said that markets in the State are unregulated hence individual traders fix prices randomly without consulting the chamber. Earlier on, the State Government exempted taxes on imported food commodities in an attempt to reduce high prices that hit the State since the referendum in January. The living condition of the people of South Sudan is worsening as people cannot afford to buy basic commodities like food from the markets due to exorbitant foodstuff prices. In the last few weeks, fuel prices have skyrocketed and the general feeling of the population is that South Sudan, being an oil rich country, should charge the lowest prices. Last weekend, Northern traders at Konyo-Konyo market revealed to a local media house that the National Congress Party had closed its borders, preventing goods from reaching the markets in South Sudan. Mohamed Ally, a business man said that his goods had been held at Kosti town of Northern Sudan for more than two weeks now. He has lost most of his customers due to this blockade. Markets are not exceptional to this bitter complaint. Many others have faced the challenge of trade sanctions by the NCP authorities at the border of the route joining South Sudan through the disputed oil rich Abyei area. Markets in the State are now depending on food items from East Africa which are relatively expensive. The people of South Sudan are urging the Khartoum government to remain friendly to them since they share a historical experience. Other Businessmen operating in Wau town’s Jow and Suke el Hajar markets who preferred anonymity expressed their worries of further working in South Sudan if Khartoum does not allow free trade with their brothers in the South. Economic sanctions between the North and South Sudan began early January this year after Southern Sudanese overwhelmingly voted for secession in a historic referendum. Posted in: Home, Humanitarian -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "JFD info" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/jfdinfo?hl=en.
