For many Sudanese, the question is no longer when the war will end, but how they can make it through another day as prices soar and their ability to secure even the most basic necessities continues to erode. Each morning brings higher prices for essential goods, shrinking incomes and fewer job opportunities, leaving thousands of families to make painful choices between food, medicine and education. In the markets, buying and selling reflect more than just an economic crisis. They tell the story of a war whose impact has reached people's tables, turning daily life into a quiet struggle for survival. The rapid rise in the exchange rate has weighed heavily on markets. Some traders have suspended sales temporarily while they reprice their goods to keep up with constant changes. At the same time, a deepening liquidity crisis has added pressure on citizens, making it harder to meet basic needs amid the country’s current economic strain. The US dollar has passed 5,000 Sudanese pounds on the parallel market, up from about 4,200 pounds a few weeks ago, a rise of nearly 20%, according to market dealers. The jump reflects sharp volatility in the currency market as economic pressure persists and monetary stability weakens. Purchasing power declines Trader Mohammed al-Rifai said markets were clearly stagnating as purchasing power fell and prices kept rising due to inflation and a stronger dollar. He told Asharq Al-Awsat that “weaker daily earnings for traders, along with the fees and taxes imposed on them, have made continuing business activity more difficult and less worthwhile.” Trader Abu Aqla Fadlallah described the economic situation as extremely difficult, saying prices of basic goods had reached unprecedented levels and daily needs had become a heavy burden on families. He told Asharq Al-Awsat that “my income is no longer enough to cover my family’s needs and my children’s education.” He said he sometimes spends an entire day in the market without making a single sale, adding that the country needs effective economic policies that draw on its vast resources and ease citizens’ suffering. Vegetable seller al-Tijani Mahmoud said weak purchasing power had hit sales directly. The cost of bringing vegetables to market has risen sharply, he said, alongside rent and operating expenses. Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat, he said some traders are forced to sell at a loss to clear their goods, calling for steps to address market imbalances. Unregulated practices Economic expert Haitham Mohamed Fathi said higher prices for raw materials used in production, driven by the rise in local exchange rates and higher global fuel costs, had directly pushed up the prices of finished goods. Fathi told Asharq Al-Awsat that the shutdown of many factories because of the war and the damage they sustained had reduced supply just as demand increased. The result, he said, was higher prices in retail markets and the spread of the informal market. “Higher global shipping costs, longer transport times, rising internal transport expenses, and the multiplicity of fees and levies between states are all additional factors that have doubled the cost of goods,” he said. He said some unregulated commercial practices, including excessive price increases aimed at maximizing profits, had further deepened consumers’ suffering. The economic expert warned that continued disruption in the energy, transport and trade sectors could undermine food security and increase the risk of shortages or unstable supplies of some goods. He said the agricultural sector could also be affected if production costs continue to rise without sufficient support for farming. Government measures To contain the economic crisis, the Sudanese government has stepped up meetings in recent days at the sovereign and ministerial levels to discuss the fallout from the rising exchange rate and the country’s worsening liquidity crisis. The Sovereign Council said the state was working on a package of measures to stabilize the foreign exchange market, limit the impact of the pound’s decline on living conditions and address market imbalances. The Sovereign Council held a meeting, chaired by Sovereign Council chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, to discuss measures to stabilize the currency market and ease economic pressure, as the pound has recorded a slight improvement in recent days. In a statement, the council said the meeting discussed several priority national issues, led by economic, security and service-related files, amid the current conditions facing the country. Daily challenges Citizen Sumaya Hassan said food prices had risen beyond what she could afford, leaving her in a daily struggle to provide for her children’s basic needs. She told Asharq Al-Awsat that the continuing war and lack of job opportunities had made living conditions harsher and weighed heavily on thousands of families. Citizen Fatima Hussein said the wave of price hikes had directly affected her family’s life, with basic goods now beyond the means of most citizens. Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat, she said she had reached Omdurman after a long displacement journey and was still struggling to secure daily necessities. She called for urgent steps to curb rising prices. Citizen Maysoun Abbas said she was shocked by the sharp rise in the prices of spices and foodstuffs, which she estimated were now about 70% higher than before the war. She said families had been forced to give up many basic needs just to manage living expenses, amid the anxiety and instability imposed by the war. In Sudan, the war is no longer measured only by the number of victims or the scale of destruction. It is also measured by what it has done to families’ tables and livelihoods. As citizens and traders struggle to adapt to an extremely harsh economic reality, the gap between income and the cost of living is widening. The need for urgent policies to restore market stability and protect the most vulnerable is growing. Without a real response to the roots of the economic crisis, high prices will remain another face of the war, and the suffering of millions of Sudanese will continue even after the guns fall silent.
