Central Equatoria state authorities vow to reduce essential goods prices

JUBA – Authorities in South Sudan’s Central Equatoria state are vowing to take all possible administrative measures to reduce prices of essential commodities in the market after local currency, the Pound, gained slight value against foreign currencies.

The pound is gaining more strength against the U.S dollar less than two weeks after the government auctioned 5 million U.S dollar in a bid to revive the declining economy.

Pound which was trading at 550 on Monday is now trading at 460 per one dollar.

“We will be meeting with the traders to check with them as to why the prices are still high because our main concern is to see into it that our people get the services and they are happy,” Mayor of Juba City Council, Kalisto Lado Faustino said during a meeting with members of SPLM State secretarial on Tuesday.

South Sudan depends on essential commodities imported from neighboring Kenya, Sudan and Uganda.

Lado cautioned traders of increasing prices even though the South Sudanese Pound has significantly gained value against the U.S dollar.

“The Prices are still high despite the fact that the dollar is dropping, the prices should have fallen with the drop of dollar against the pound,” he said.