bread |
Starting Monday,
school pupils and students have to eat breakfast in their homes and in
the markets, as a result of the bread shortage that forced school
cafeterias to stop their provision of breakfasts in El Obeid.
A number of
residents in the state capital, in Um Rawaba and in El Rahad told Radio
Dabanga that the flour crisis, which began before the holiday season of
Eid El Adha, "has intensified since Saturday".
Bakery owners have
attributed the bread crisis to the reduction of flour quotas distributed
from the flour factories to the bakeries.
In eastern Sudan,
the price of a piece of bread in Aroma, Kassala, has risen to 70 pence
from 50 pence. Meanwhile bakeries receive one bag of flour instead of
two per day.
A similar situation
has unfolded in New Halfa, also in Kassala, where residents said that
half of all bakeries were forced to shut their doors. In El Gedaref, the
price of a piece of bread rose to 80 pence while less bakeries are
still in production. Bread is being sold in the black market at high
prices.
Particularly
eastern Sudan has witnessed a shortage of flour since the start of this
year. In the Sudanese capital almost a quarter of all bakeries
reportedly closed their doors because of the issue, said the head of the
state's statistical office. The director-general of the Ministry of
Finance, Adel Abdelaziz El Faki, contradicted this and announced last
week that no bakeries in the state have stopped working.
Economic experts
said the government is responsible for the current bread crisis that hit
the capital and other states. They claimed that the flour crisis is
attributable to the shortage of foreign exchange currencies, and there
were no clear import policies for flour and wheat under the former
Minister of Finance.
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