THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH SUDAN
NATIONAL BUREAU OF STATISTICS (NBS)
Press release
January 2013
SOUTH SUDAN HIGH FREQUENCY SURVEY (SSHFS) 2013
The National Bureau of Statistics in collaboration with the World Bank is pleased to release further
results for the Exchange Rate Survey, which is part of the South Sudan High Frequency Survey (see
technical notes for more information). The survey uses handheld tablet computers to collect realtime data and is currently being piloted in Juba, Wau, Malakal and Rumbek.
The results of the Exchange Rate Survey show the weekly average of buying price and selling price
for Juba, Wau, Malakal, Rumbek, and South Sudan as a whole; that is, how many SSP are required on
the black market to buy 100 USD (buying price), and how many SSP are obtained by selling 100 USD
(selling price). Daily data are available on the NBS website.
Official exchange rates are 296.23 SSP to buy 100 USD and 293.77 SSP obtained by selling 100 USD.
Figure 1: Mean weekly exchange rate for South Sudan, SSP per 100 USD
For South Sudan, the value is the mean of all results from all four states obtained on that date.
The South Sudan average is calculated as the mean of the four exchange rates found in each town. Dashed
lines indicate periods where one or more towns had missing data, and the country average was calculated as
the mean exchange rates for those towns which had data. For further details please see the tabulated data on
the NBS website. “Buying price” means amount required in SSP to purchase 100 USD.
SSP/USD mean exchange rate, South Sudan
575.0
525.0
475.0
425.0
375.0
325.0
Buying price (official)
Selling price (official)
Buying price
Selling price
28/01/13
14/01/13
31/12/12
17/12/12
03/12/12
19/11/12
05/11/12
22/10/12
08/10/12
24/09/12
10/09/12
27/08/12
13/08/12
30/07/12
16/07/12
02/07/12
18/06/12
04/06/12
21/05/12
275.0
Over the last four weeks, the weekly average price required to buy 100 USD has risen from 435 SSP
to 439 SSP. This means the SSP has depreciated against the USD by 0.9%.
The data for weekly average selling price show a similar trend: it has increased from 420 SSP to 425
SSP, constituting a depreciation of 1.2% over the same period.
This is in contrast to the recent trend of gradual appreciation of the SSP against the USD. The pattern
of the SSP falling in value compared to the US dollar was reversed in the middle of August, when the
South Sudanese pound appreciated sharply. Since then, the SSP has been steadily appreciating
against the USD. However this trend looks like it might be stabilising.
In the capital, Juba, exchange rate patterns have been similar. They are graphed below.
Anybody interested in seeing the data in closer detail is invited to visit the National Bureau of
Statistics’ website, www.ssnbs.org.
Figure 2: Mean weekly exchange rate for Juba, SSP per 100 USD
SSP/USD mean exchange rate, Juba only
575.0
525.0
475.0
425.0
375.0
325.0
Buying price (Juba)
Selling price (Juba)
Buying price (official)
21/1/13
7/1/13
24/12/12
10/12/12
26/11/12
12/11/12
29/10/12
15/10/12
1/10/12
17/9/12
3/9/12
20/8/12
6/8/12
23/7/12
9/7/12
25/6/12
11/6/12
28/5/12
14/5/12
30/4/12
16/4/12
2/4/12
19/3/12
5/3/12
275.0
Selling price (official)
Table 1: Weekly average exchange rate, SSP per 100 USD
Malakal
Wau
Rumbek
Juba
Mean
buying
price
Mean
selling
price
Mean
buying
price
Mean
selling
price
Mean
buying
price
Mean
selling
price
Mean
buying
price
Mean
selling
price
2 Jul 2012
532.0
504.0
497.1
461.4
525.0
502.5
512.5
504.3
Week
beginning
9 Jul 2012
537.5
502.5
505.0
481.3
533.3
510.0
517.5
512.0
16 Jul 2012
552.0
524.0
495.0
475.0
539.5
513.8
541.7
533.3
23 Jul 2012
550.0
525.0
495.3
475.0
547.3
518.8
541.8
534.1
30 Jul 2012
546.7
530.0
519.0
487.0
544.6
537.9
6 Aug 2012
548.0
526.0
528.0
506.0
544.5
536.0
13 Aug 2012
540.0
510.0
507.5
497.4
467.5
459.4
20 Aug 2012
27 Aug 2012
515.0
472.5
473.6
450.4
498.4
469.3
455.3
447.3
3 Sep 2012
502.5
475.0
450.8
429.2
479.2
450.3
446.3
439.1
10 Sep 2012
468.0
402.0
430.0
410.0
463.3
437.5
447.2
439.0
17 Sep 2012
481.0
450.0
427.1
402.9
444.2
418.9
447.5
439.5
24 Sep 2012
467.0
450.0
433.2
411.8
445.7
425.7
448.0
439.8
1 Oct 2012
472.0
450.0
455.7
433.9
450.0
440.0
448.5
440.0
8 Oct 2012
465.0
443.0
455.4
433.5
456.4
420.9
442.5
434.5
15 Oct 2012
460.0
440.0
475.8
452.5
435.0
406.4
443.3
434.5
22 Oct 2012
29 Oct 2012
462.5
461.0
441.3
435.0
466.7
449.3
445.8
429.3
440.8
444.3
412.2
422.3
441.3
439.8
432.5
430.8
5 Nov 2012
460.0
433.0
459.1
438.2
437.1
420.0
435.8
427.0
12 Nov 2012
455.0
430.0
467.5
450.0
438.8
418.8
433.3
426.7
19 Nov 2012
448.0
419.0
478.6
457.9
439.2
417.7
440.6
426.1
26 Nov 2012
452.5
432.5
462.5
436.9
437.1
411.7
431.3
425.7
3 Dec 2012
450.0
430.0
442.5
422.5
427.5
410.0
450.0
430.0
430.0
405.0
442.5
420.0
427.7
422.3
426.7
422.0
10 Dec 2012
17 Dec 2012
24 Dec 2012
31 Dec 2012
430.0
420.0
440.0
418.6
445.0
420.0
425.5
420.0
7 Jan 2013
436.0
427.0
430.0
402.2
435.6
420.6
431.0
423.0
14 Jan 2013
432.0
422.0
420.0
400.0
435.6
419.4
430.0
422.5
21 Jan 2013
437.5
428.8
441.7
420.0
435.0
418.3
434.0
425.0
28 Jan 2013
440.0
430.0
450.0
427.5
436.3
420.0
430.0
422.5
For more information, please contact:
David Chan Thiang
Director of Economic Statistics
National Bureau of Statistics
Tel: +211955213923
E-mail: chandavidthiang@yahoo.com
NBS website: www.ssnbs.org
Technical notes
Background information
The Exchange Rate Survey is part of the High Frequency South Sudan Survey that uses tablet
computers to collect real time data and is being piloted in Juba, Rumbek, Wau and Malakal from
April 2012 to January 2013. The aim of the survey is to provide the Government of South Sudan with
high frequency, high quality data on social, economic and security conditions in the country. The
survey collects data on market prices, exchange rates and household welfare in these major towns.
Market prices of key food items and fuel are collected several times per week, exchange rate
information is collected every day, and data on household welfare, including hunger, security and
government service delivery is collected on a monthly basis.
The exchange rate of the South Sudanese Pound (SSP) against the US dollar (USD) is one of the major
macroeconomic indicators of the economy. Though our target is the black market exchange rate, it is
still important to be used by policymakers in decision-making by comparing it with the official
exchange rate that is published by the Central Bank (Bank of South Sudan), commercial banks and
FOREX bureaus.
Enumerators only ask for prices as part of this survey; they neither buy nor sell currency.
Definitions
Exchange rate: The rate at which a country’s currency can be exchanged for another country’s
currency.
Black market exchange rate: An exchange rate for a currency that differs from the official exchange
rate set by a government.
Currency depreciation: A decline in the value of one currency relative to another currency.
Depreciation occurs when, because of a change in exchange rates, a unit of one currency buys fewer
units of another currency.
Currency appreciation: An increase in the value of one currency relative to another currency.
Appreciation occurs when, because of a change in exchange rates, a unit of one currency buys more
units of another currency.
Buying price: The rate at which an individual can buy dollars (sell pounds) from a currency trader.
Selling price: The rate at which an individual can sell dollars (buy pounds) from a currency trader.