Collapsing currency and inflation leave families struggling in Sudan

Rising bread, sugar and meat prices strain Sudanese households already grappling with war and economic instability. 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. “Before the war, a cup of coffee cost 1,000 Sudanese pounds ($1.70 at pre-war rates),” Aisha told Al Jazeera. “I could earn about 30,000 pounds a day ($50) and that was enough to cover my family’s needs.” Aisha now charges 3,000 pounds ($0.40 at current rates) for coffee and 1,500 pounds ($0.20) for tea, earning between 70,000 pounds ($9.30) and 100,000 pounds ($13.30) a day. 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.

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