S.Sudan inflation rate halves in October as food prices tumble - Business Recorder (blog)

JUBA: Annual inflation in South Sudan halved to 21.5 percent in October as food and bread prices tumbled, data showed on Friday, as it mended ties with neighbouring Sudan, its main supply route for food, fuel and consumer goods.

The annual inflation rate had stood at 42.9 percent in September. Month-on-month the consumer price index fell by 6.8 percent in October, the National Bureau of Statistics said.

The cost of food and non-alcoholic beverages, which make up almost 72 percent of the index, dropped 9 percent in October, the data showed. Bread and cereals costs tumbled 20.2 percent, while the cost of healthcare fell by 11.4 percent.

Some analysts, however, have said actual inflation is higher than the official figures.

South Sudan won independence from Sudan in July 2011 after a bitter civil war, but a fresh dispute between the two shut down the South's oil industry in January, which usually makes up 98 percent of its state income.

In September, the two sides signed trade and oil deals that will allow for the oil wells in the South, one of the world's least-developed countries, to be turned back on.

They have also re-opened the border. Cross-border trade had largely stopped ahead of South Sudan's secession, severing historic supply routes to the north.

The South Sudanese pound has fallen since oil revenues dried up, putting upward pressure on inflation. But it recently regained some ground after the central bank signed a $100 million agreement with Qatar National Bank to help fund imports.

South Sudan needs to import most of its food as it has no sizeable industry outside the oil sector.