Sudan: Rising Prices Have Hit Civilians in Port Sudan, and an Economic Crisis “Is Looming”

Recently, Sudanese markets have experienced an unprecedented surge in prices for basic goods and services, coupled with the implementation of new fuel price hikes in several states, prompting some merchants to suspend sales in anticipation of market fluctuations.

In Port Sudan, which the military has taken over as its capital, citizens expressed shock at the recent price spikes, where the price of four loaves of bread reached 1,000 pounds after previously costing the same price for six loaves, while the prices of oil, sugar, and construction materials rose significantly, according to a report published by the Sudanese newspaper Al-Rakuba.

Inside the city’s markets, Sudanese citizen Rehab Othman is trying to shop for her family’s daily needs, but the skyrocketing prices have prevented her from getting what she wants—as is the case for other shoppers.

She told the newspaper Al-Rakuba that “the price of a can of cooking oil (7 liters) rose from 30,000 to 35,000 pounds,” noting that “these sudden increases are presenting citizens with severe daily challenges.”

According to reports, the price of a liter of diesel in Port Sudan rose to 6,300 pounds—that is, 25,200 Sudanese pounds per gallon (with a capacity of 4 liters)—or about 6.5 U.S. dollars on the black market, an increase of about 54 percent from the previous price.

The price of a 50-kg bag of sugar reached around 175,000 pounds, and cement reached 55,000 pounds; these increases, along with rising fuel and gas prices and an electricity generation shortfall of 3,300 MWh, caused the price of bread to rise to 2,000 Sudanese pounds for 8 loaves (half a dollar on the black market).

Rise in the Customs Dollar Rate

Amid these crises, the Port of Sudan Authority raised the customs dollar rate from 2,827 to 3,222 pounds—a 14 percent increase—which was directly reflected in the prices of basic goods, including food, fuel, gas, and transportation tariffs.

Economists confirm that the growing gap between incomes and prices is exacerbating the cost-of-living pressures on the population, in the absence of urgent economic measures to halt the pound’s decline and curb rising prices.

On Sunday, June 21, 2026, the Sudanese Customs Authority announced that it would raise the exchange rate used to calculate customs duties to 3,517 pounds per dollar, a 3.5 percent increase compared to the previous rate of 3,395 pounds.

This adjustment is the third since early 2026, following two previous increases in April and May, in light of mounting pressure on the Sudanese pound and the widening gap between the official exchange rate and the parallel market rate.

Sudanese researcher Father Ahmed says that “the collapse of the Sudanese pound not only affects citizens within Sudan but also directly impacts the situation of Sudanese refugees abroad. With the currency’s depreciation and high remittance costs, many families’ ability to meet their basic needs will be reduced.”

He added in a tweet on the X platform that the situation may force “many Sudanese to return to Sudan, despite ongoing challenges and unstable conditions, once the cost of remaining in countries of asylum exceeds what they can afford.”

For his part, economist Waleed Al-Nil said that the ongoing conflict since 2023 has led to a decline in local production and greater reliance on imports, which increased the demand for foreign currency given the limited available resources. He added that this situation contributed to high prices for imported goods and services.

An Economic Crisis on the Horizon

Meanwhile, figures published by the United Nations confirm that Sudan had made tangible progress in the fight against poverty, as the poverty rate fell from 38.1% in 1990 to 15.6% in 2011, but it gradually rose again to 45% in 2023, before surging to an unprecedented 71% in November 2025, and reaching 73% today, with approximately 24 million people living below the poverty line set at three dollars per person per day.

Reports confirm that the war is causing an unprecedented collapse of the Sudanese economy, with a decline in agricultural and oil exports, high inflation, and the collapse of the national currency, amid enormous debts and reconstruction challenges.

Sudanese writer Mohamed Saleh Mohamed says that the currency’s collapse is a direct reflection of the lack of trust in institutions. When a political vision for resource management is absent and the state becomes a mere “tax collector” in a disrupted economy, citizens realize through their economic intuition that their economic “death certificate” has been issued and that their current struggle is not for “growth” but for “biological survival.”

“The pound’s collapse today is a mirror of a country that is economically disintegrating. If there is no political will to resist this erosion, citizens will remain trapped in this ‘economic deathbed’ where securing a livelihood becomes the greatest victory of their day, and financial collapse is the headline of their lives.”

Economic Paralysis

The economic decline has had a significant impact on the health, education, and basic services sectors in Sudan, and the escalating popular discontent with the performance of the Port Sudan authorities and the ongoing war has led to accusations against the army—which refuses to end the war—for failing to manage the economy and the state’s resources.

The education sector has been on a full-scale, open-ended strike since the beginning of this month, as striking teachers assert that the current salary structures no longer guarantee the minimum necessities for survival.

Statistics from the education sector reveal stark paradoxes in the salary structure; for example, a third- or ninth-grade teacher, who supports a family of four, receives a monthly salary not exceeding 140,000 Sudanese pounds (equivalent to only about 30 U.S. dollars), compounded by the ongoing crisis of delays in administrative disbursements, which sometimes extend to 40 days a month, according to the newspaper Ain Al-Haqah.

This shortfall in salary payments has pushed Sudanese teachers to the brink of collapse, where the real daily wage is equivalent to only about 15 pieces of dry bread, according to the same source, including union statements, which note that strike action in previous periods was curtailed by administrative pressure and the threat of disciplinary action, which exacerbated the state of psychological and professional distress within educational circles and led teachers to demand a minimum of 600,000 pounds—a figure they refuse to compromise on—to compensate for the complete rigidity of market conditions and the inability to meet the necessities of daily life.

The education unions hold the Prime Minister of South Sudan, Kamel Idris Al-Tayeb, and the Minister of Finance,fully responsible for the catastrophic consequences of the teachers’ strike continuing into the remainder of the school year; where the demand has become: an administrative mindset that instills a fear of God in citizens and manages state resources fairly is the only way to overcome the current crisis and lead the country toward security and social stability.