South Sudan should consider printing 500ssp and 1000ssp notes for portability
Suggestion for Ministry of finance to consider the possibility of printing 500 SSP and 1000 SSP given the hyperinflation to ease portability
By Kon Garang, Juba, South Sudan
March 26, 2016 (SSB) —- Considering the history of money which started as barter trade, where goods were exchange for goods, it was sooner that man faces the difficulties involved in that type of business.
Top among the challenges was the problem of transportation of such exchanged goods from one location to another, so man decided to introduce coins, made of gold and silver, into the trading system to be used as money with an aim of reducing the medium of exchange into a smaller and lighter item that can easily be carried from one location to another, sooner after the introduction of coins it also become difficult to transport coins especially those with bulky amount so, a paper design in special way was introduced to be used as money and indeed paper as a money did solve the problem of transportation up to date, because it can easily be folded into a pocket or a small safe box.
The only challenge now is that each government or country decided to have its own money and with international trade some currencies or money become stronger than others in term of exchange rate, because of massive production of quality goods and services from those countries into the international market.
Countries like mine – South Sudan, with little or non-production into the international or regional markets in most cases faces the problem of inflation, where local currency depreciates very much below the strongest currencies of the world such as US dollar and Sterling pound.
Today in South Sudan we are facing the problem of currency depreciation or inflation, meaning that huge among of our money has lost and is losing its value against foreign currencies especially the United States dollar.
It became difficult for us to carry our currency or money as pockets are becoming small for huge among of money with depreciated value.
For example the latest exchange rate of SSP to US dollar that I have witnessed was 1 USD for 42 SSP, that mean 100 USD makes 4200 SSP and 4200 SSP is indeed a huge amount to carry in one’s pocket especially in figures below or equal to 50 SSP.
This is what prompted me to suggest the printing of 500 SSP and 1000 SSP. The scenario is continues and our currency is depreciating on daily bases and therefore printing our currency in huge amount in one note will help us from the burden of moving with huge amount of money with less value in the market.
This can be a temporary solution to solve the difficulties of money with huge money of small value while our government continues to look for a permanent economic policy solution such as ensuring peace and aggressive investment in food production and strategic infrastructures.
Hopefully if we settle our political differences in the near future and embarks on necessary reforms and development projects in our country, our beloved currency, the SSP, may gain it greatness once again in value against all the foreign currencies in our country.
The author is a concern citizen of South Sudan and resident of Juba. He can be reached at gkon977@yahoo.com.
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