Traders in Juba have raised the prices of basic goods this week and are citing the devaluation of the South Sudanese Pounds.

For instance, in Jebel market, a bag of sugar that was costing 600 pounds is now 1,100.
A bag of maize flour that was being sold at 500 pounds is now 700.

“I was going to buy clothes and come back with nothing, I went to the marketwith 1000 for clothes of four kids I couldn’t afford to buy even to buy only one,” a buyer said.

“Now everything is very expensive. Let them take the dollar from where they have been bringing the dollar because everything is very expensive,” a vender said.

“From the wholesale there is a lot of changes and the increases is more than a half,” says another, selling a mix of consumables.

The Central Bank announced the devaluation on Tuesday, saying it was streamlining the rates to stop a few from benefiting from the huge difference in the exchange rates.

The official rates were 2.96 at the central bank, 3.16 in the commercial banks and another varying rate of about 18.5 in the parallel market, known as the black market.