Juba traders decry losses in post-Christmas blues
As the dust from the Christmas and New Year’s celebrations settles, traders now say the festive season has closed with curses in the aftermath, as they no longer have buyers like before.
Yesterday, The City Review made a spot-check visit to some trading hubs in Juba and ascertained that most traders complained over lower sales after the festivities.
(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});Some traders, on the other hand, described the situation as a typical depiction of the typical Christmas and New Year period whenever the country is experiencing economic hardship.
Tesify Ahmed, who operates a wholesale business at the Customs market, said sales had been lower compared to the period before Christmas and New Year celebrations.
According to Ahmed, the fall in sales was not attributable to high prices in the market. To him, people may have overspent during the festive period, hence, there is little disposable income, leading to lower sales.
“We understand that this has been the character of Christmas and end-of-year festivities, simply because people used to overspend. After spending a lot, what do you expect to happen? One has to use the small he or she has to push to the next month, ” Ahmed explained.
(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});He said another factor could be the fact that the country is struggling to deal with the harsh economic crisis and, as a result, people do not have money to spend on what they need.
Wait continues
“The spending power of consumers during the Christmas and New Year’s celebrations has slowed our growing business.” Since December 24th of last year, the sales have been low, and we have been waiting for long periods without seeing buyers, as we used to have a few months ago.”
He said before Christmas, he could sell over one million South Sudanese Pounds in a day, a figure that has since been reduced four times in a day.
“We used to have something better and one could feel that there is something, although I will not tell you exactly what it is; it is at least better, like one million SSP or above that. But now you may get something less than SSP50, 000, ” Ahmed revealed.
(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});Rita Stella, a retail outlet owner at Konyo Konyo market, expressed a similar view but said this year’s post-Christmas sales dipped even further than in the past two consecutive years.
‘‘People have reasons not to buy, as you know, especially civil servants, who have been working without pay for several months, and even if they did, the money is insufficient,’’ said Stella.
She said she believed that sales could boom after January when people have settled down and worries about expenditure have subsided.
“We believe we will start getting what we used to get in February, but it will still not be like before,” she said, as she lamented that a sharp increase in prices of goods and a delay in salaries of civil servants could compound their woes.
(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});Hakim Badi Das, a trader and government employee, said many buyers are willing to spend, but they do not have the money.
“No one can buy it because he or she does not have the money. You buy it because you have money,” he said.
According to Das, some businesses are now dependent on buyers who work for non-governmental organisations (NGOs). However, such sellers prefer supermarkets, Das revealed.
“If civil servants like us start getting salaries monthly and their salaries are increased higher than the current ones, our traders may not complain,” he argued.
For Kot Makur who runs a retail shop at the custom market, the drop in sales calls for a quick remedy. He revealed that he would suspend selling as he monitors how his peers perform first.
(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});“I am still thinking of what I could do if I put my business to rest for a while before I resume. Maybe until I see my colleagues’ businesses are booming, that is when I will resume. I am thinking of what I can do, ” Mr Makur said.
“We have to continue to struggle, although it has not worked out this year, compared to other years,” he added.