As Prices Soar, South Sudan Backs Discount Food Stores in Juba

South Sudan’s government opened about 30 shops in the capital selling staple foods at discount prices as the war-torn country that’s also battling a famine grapples with inflation in excess of 400 percent.

The government hired contractors to import goods including flour, sugar, beans and cooking oil from neighboring countries and is selling them at fixed prices in Juba, according to Minister of Trade & Industry Moses Hassan Tiel. Thirty-three trucks of the commodities arrived from Uganda this week, George Luate Alfred, managing director of Ramciel Multi-Purpose Cooperative Society, a government-contracted supplier, said in an interview Friday.