Hugh Wright, Juba
No one can deny that South Sudan is currently in the grip of unpleasant inflation, prices rising nearly daily on the streets of Juba especially, and a change in action from the government is most necessary to tackle the crisis, but the government's announcement of a new currency will have zero effect on price rises while at the same time forcing the people of South Sudan to put our current money into bank accounts where the government can seize our cash at will.
The way for the government to get a grip on price rises is quite simple - it must stop printing so much money! It is a well-known fact that the major cause of price rises, or "inflation" throughout history and around the world is the government printing so much money that it becomes worthless, so all Salva Kiir and his government have to do is turn off the money presses, or at least slow them down, and prices on the street will quickly stabilise. Unfortunately, Mr. Kiir's corrupt and wasteful policies require him to print more and more South Sudan Pounds, making your money worthless while he and his friends put their wealth into US dollars. In short, South Sudan's inflation is a deliberate method used to
enrich the leaders of the SPLA while making everyone else in South Sudan poorer. It has the same effect as a warlord stealing a man's crops, cattle, even farm, but instead of a lot being taken from one man violently, a little is taken from everyone in silence, every single day, so the people do not realise what is going on. Now that the government have exhausted what little faith the public had left in the SSP, they are going to change the currency just to start the whole cycle again. They will never get inflation under control because inflation being out of control is what allows them to drive Mercedes-Benz cars and wear tailored suits from Italy.
But what can the people of South Sudan do about this? It is true that once the government stops backing the SSP it will become even more worthless than it is now, but whatever the government decides to call the new currency, it will have exactly the same problems as the SSP has now. The answer is to do what the SPLA do and use US dollars. Keep all your savings in US dollars, try to use US dollars as much as you can. If someone pays you in
South Sudanese currency, try to change it into US dollars right away. If you must use South Sudanese currency for something, convert only the amount you need. Even if everyone else keeps using South Sudan currency, your own money will be safe from the government, and if the use of the US dollar becomes widespread, the government may adopt it as the official currency, and then they will not be able to steal from you by printing too much money.
But whatever you do, do not deposit any money into the banks at the moment, since the government might just take it directly.
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