Port Sudan, Sudan – Aisha pours another cup of tea at her makeshift outdoor stand, hoping the day’s sales will help keep her family afloat. The 27-year-old sells tea and coffee in Sudan’s second-largest city, Port Sudan, trying to provide for her parents and four brothers in a country now in its fourth year of war. The conflict has led to a plunge in the value of the Sudanese pound and rising costs for transportation and essential goods.
Those aren’t just abstract economic indicators for Aisha: they’re reflected in the widening gap between what she earns and what her family needs each month. But that increase in earnings has been swallowed by rising costs – both for her business and the day-to-day expenses she needs to feed and house her family. Before the war, she was able to buy five pieces of bread for 1,000 pounds ($0.10) but that same amount now only buys her three.
The cost of a kilogram of sugar has risen from 4,000 pounds ($0.45) to 7,000 pounds ($0.90). Her daily transportation costs from her home to her coffee and tea stand have now quadrupled. Beef now costs 68,000 pounds ($9) per kilogram – far outside her budget.
Even lentils, a more affordable staple, now costs about 16,000 pounds ($2.10) a kilogram. Healthcare and education costs have also risen, adding another layer of pressure for families already exhausted by years of war. Aisha’s experience is shared across Sudan, where the war has disrupted production and exports, creating a shortage of foreign currency and weakening the country’s currency.
The war between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) – which controls Port Sudan – and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces has taken a toll on Sudan’s economy and humanitarian conditions since the conflict began in April 2023. According to Sudan’s Central Bureau of Statistics, annual inflation stood at over 41 percent in July, down from 51 percent in June. But that slowdown does not mean prices fell: The overall consumer price index still rose nearly 1.5 percent between June and July, meaning that prices were continuing to increase but at a slower annual rate, putting further pressure on household purchasing power.
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) estimated that Sudan lost about $6.4bn in gross domestic product in 2023 alone. UNDP said the economy has shrunk by more than 40 percent during the war while one-third of businesses have closed. The collapse of the Sudanese pound has accelerated sharply.
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