Feature: South Sudanese resort to creativity, hard work to cope with economic hardships

While many of his compatriots found life untenable in South Sudan and fled to neighboring Uganda and other countries, Robert Amule who has been running two shops in Juba for the past five years, says he is not in a hurry to leave as he sees an opportunity to expand his business.

The world's youngest nation is beset by conflicts and hyper inflation. People like Amule have decided to resort to hard work and creativity to earn a living as cost of doing business becomes costly with each day that passes due to shortage of foreign exchange.

"Those days are gone when one could sustain himself with a small business. I used to sell imported clothes from Uganda but I can no longer afford it, so I decided to venture into water and I have now even expanded into bar business," the youthful Amule said.

Amule added that despite his versatility in business, the hard situation has forced many small businesses to close.

Conflict broke out in December 2013 and has so far killed tens of thousands, displaced more than two million from their homes, and 1.5 million people have fled into neighboring countries, according to the UN refugee agency (UNHCR).

The UN estimates about 5.8 million South Sudanese to be food insecure following a long drought season coupled forced displacements due to fighting.

Jimmy Jackson said he was forced to do jobs like building and painting after the media company he worked for closed in the aftermath of conflict, leaving him with no other option than working for small construction companies, to put food on the table for his young family.

"These days things are not easy, we struggle for survival. White collar jobs are not there anymore. For me, if building and painting jobs come, I do them," Jackson said.

About 78 percent of the households in South Sudan derive their livelihood from agriculture. There are few alternative sources of employment as the formal sectors are yet to develop.

"If you are hardworking person you earn some pay at the end of the day," Jackson said while referring to local construction work he survives on.

The country's annual inflation by October last year peaked at 837.5 percent and the South Sudanese Pound continues to shed value against the U.S dollar at a rapid rate since April last year from 32 to 140 in February on the black market.

Geoffrey Mujule, who deals in construction materials such as building bricks in Munuki suburb, told Xinhua that together with his Ugandan partner they managed to open another branch to supplement their daily earnings.

"There are no customers buying, they just come and ask for goods and go away. So we decided to open up another business to supplement this one because there is no other business I can do now," Mujule said.

Meanwhile, Oyoo Simon, a driver who also operates a generator at an office complex, says the situation has pushed up the cost of living as prices of goods in the market have doubled.

"The situation in the market is difficult for everybody whether you do your own business, you end up closing it at some point," he said.

Juba-based economist James Alic Garang told Xinhua that options to save the worsening economic situation are limited unless conflict is halted.

"First, stop the war! The economy is carrying undue weights resulting from political crisis. Once you stop war and implement ARCISS (Agreement on Resolution of Conflict in South Sudan), you can reduce the pressure on the economy. Second, continue to reform economic institutions of governance for better and as one way to turn the economy around," Garang said.

He added that there was need to increase oil production in the northern oil fields from less than 130,000 barrels per day to more than 300,000 bpd that will help the government earn additional foreign exchange. Endit