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Violence affects S Sudan imports

Author : | Published: Tuesday, August 16, 2016

Imports to South Sudan through the main port of Mombasa fell to the lowest-ever level in July, the government representative to the port has said.

According to Kenya Ports Authority data, South Sudan depends on commodity imports including wheat, oil, rice and sugar.

South Sudan’s representative to the Kenyan Mombasa port, Ayuel Deng says that only 525 twenty-foot equivalent units of cargo were cleared at the Mombasa port in July, compared with a monthly average of 4,000 in 2013.

“There are no dollars anywhere; at the central bank, in forex bureaus, anywhere,” Deng told Bloomberg. “It is a matter of struggling if you need to import something.”

Kenya Port Authorities say South Sudan was the second-largest destination for transit goods through Mombasa after Uganda in 2015.

South Sudan also holds Africa’s third-biggest crude reserves and brings in most of its imports through Mombasa.

Fighting which erupted in December 2013 has driven up consumer prices, with the nation’s inflation rate soaring to 661.3 percent in July, while falling crude prices have dried up a key source of foreign exchange.

The most recent violence in the capital, Juba, forced many business-people, both South Sudanese and foreigners, to close shops and leave.

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