Attachments
Highlights
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Distributions through mobile teams in Leer County and the broader Greater Upper Nile continue, as WFP also prepares for a seasonal relief scale-up in Northern Bahr El Ghazal and Eastern Equatoria states.
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Market price monitoring highlights dramatic increases in food prices. In January 2017, a food basket in Juba cost five times as much as the year before.
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WFP has completed 20 percent of its commodity prepositioning plan in preparation for the rainy season.
Situation Update
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WFP, UNICEF and Oxfam have jointly conducted a rapid food security and nutrition assessment in the drought affected area of Kapoeta, Eastern Equatoria State. Preliminary findings show that 150,000 people are in need of immediate food assistance. Food insecurity in Kapoeta is exacerbated by very high inflation. According to WFP’s market monitoring, the price of the main staple food, white maize, in local markets has increased by 228 percent in one month, and in February, the price was nearly 20 times that of the same time the previous year (an increase of 1,876 percent).
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WFP’s latest monthly market price bulletin highlights a continued weakening of the South Sudanese Pound against the US dollar, and dramatic increases in food prices, which contribute significantly to the overall inflation rate. According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the national inflation rate stood at 372 percent in January 2017. Food and non-alcoholic beverages account for 71 percent of the Consumer Price Index calculation, indicating that the largest share of household expenditures go towards food. In Juba, the food inflation rate was 370 percent; a standard food basket cost almost five times as much as the same month the year before.
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A commercial airline (South Sudan Supreme) caught fire after landing at Wau airport, with no human casualities according to preliminary reports. The incident disrupted the operation of humanitarian flights out of Wau, resulting in the cancellation of some UNHAS flights. The accident points to the continued need for humanitarian air services, as the safety standards of commercial airlines and overall South Sudanese airspace strengthen gradually.