WAU — The crisis in South Sudan has not only created a humanitarian disaster that has displaced more than one million people, separated children from their families and left nearly four million people facing alarming hunger, it’s also hitting the national and local economies hard.
Oil production, the lifeblood of South Sudan’s economy, is down by around 30 percent, according to international reports. The cholera outbreak in Juba, which the World Health Organization (WHO) has tied to the six-month-old conflict in the country, has forced many food vendors and tea sellers in Juba to shut up shop, as people shun food prepared outdoors and health officials step up hygiene inspections.
Residents of towns like Torit, in the south of the country, have said that even though they have not been hit directly by the violence, they have felt its bite, with food, fuel and even mobile telephone airtime in short supply.
‘This year is not going well’
Now, another business is being hit: money transfer companies.
The manager of Eden Money Transfer in Wau, Christopher Tabu Enok, told South Sudan in Focus that business has dropped by 30 percent since the beginning of the year. He blamed the conflict that broke out in mid-December, and the fact that civil servants in Western Bahr El Ghazal state have not receive their salaries since May, for the slump in business…
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