Six-day fuel queues as Port Sudan runs on empty

Owners of minibuses in Port Sudan now endure queues of up to six days at filling stations, as the chronic fuel shortage in the city deepens.

The head of the Minibus Drivers Union, Mohamed Obashar, told Radio Dabanga that the Red Sea state Economic Committee as a failure. He called on the new governor to remove the army guards from the pumps and replace them with an anti-smuggling police team to prevent racketeering at petrol stations.

The Governor of Red Sea state, Abdallah Shangarai, said in a press statement that the queues for fuel continued because of the scarcity of petrol in the state. He referred to the abundance of cooking gas in the state and the stabile electricity supply.

Governor Shangarai acknowledged that there is a shortage of flour at bakeries in the capital as their quota has been reduced by 30 per cent from 6,000 bags to 4,000 bags a day.

“Most of the water basins in the state will be filled after the rains,” he said, “which will contribute to a stable supply of drinking water to 70 per cent of the residential areas.

Inflation

Sudan’s annual inflation rate surged to 136.36 per cent in June, compared to 114.33 in May, the Central Bureau of Statistics reported in July. Almost a quarter of the Sudanese population is severely food insecure.

The inflation rate in urban areas increased to 112.41 per cent in June, compared to 96.93 per cent in May. The rural inflation rose to 1. 155 per cent in June, while it was 127.38 per cent in May 2020.

The Central Bureau of Statistics attributed the rise to the increase in the prices of all components of the Food and Beverages group, especially the prices of bread and grains, meat, fats, oils and legumes, fresh milk, and other dairy goods.

The prices in the Transportation and Fuel group and the Housing group increased as well, because of the soaring prices of fuel, cooking gas, charcoal, firewood, and cement.