The Face of Truth | Dr. Ibrahim Shaglawi High Prices: A Market Crisis or a Crisis of the State?
When bread is under threat, imported vegetables are cheaper than those produced locally, and the currency loses value every day, high prices expose flaws in policies that are supposed to protect production, regulate prices, and safeguard people’s livelihoods.
The government of Kamil Idris must therefore be held accountable. Where is its plan to contain inflation? Where are its policies to reduce production costs? Where does it stand in the face of people’s suffering, the curbing of monopolies, and the restoration of confidence in the Sudanese pound? The war explains part of the crisis, but it does not grant the government immunity from accountability, nor does it make the absence of solutions an unchangeable fate.
In Wadi Halfa this week, the prices of some commodities reveal a contradiction that warrants scrutiny. A kilogram of Egyptian tomatoes costs approximately SDG 10,000, compared with SDG 30,000 for locally produced tomatoes. Egyptian potatoes cost SDG 5,000, compared with SDG 8,000 for local potatoes, while Egyptian lemons cost SDG 10,000, compared with SDG 30,000 for local lemons. Even taking into account differences in quality, transportation costs, and price timing, the question remains: How can an imported commodity reach consumers at a price far below that of its domestically produced equivalent? Is it the cost of production, the multiplicity of fees and levies, disruptions in distribution chains, or practices that allow prices to rise at the expense of both producers and consumers?
The crisis reaches a more dangerous level when it comes to bread, a daily staple for millions of families. If two loaves currently sell for SDG 1,000, the continued depreciation of the Sudanese pound and rising costs of flour, energy, and transportation, amid the absence of effective oversight and policies that incentivize production, could push the price of a single loaf to SDG 1,000 before the end of the year. This possibility depends on the continuation of existing distortions, but it warns of a doubling of the burden on low-income families. When bread becomes threatened by this level of cost, the issue extends beyond bakeries to food security and the state’s responsibility to protect citizens from an expanding circle of poverty.
It cannot be denied that the war, which began in April 2023, has damaged production, trade, and supply chains, weakened the currency, and increased dependence on imports. However, the effects of war do not grant the government an open-ended exemption from responsibility. The war explains part of the crisis, but it does not justify the absence of a response or delays in setting priorities. The government of Kamil Idris is now required to demonstrate its ability to manage available resources and ease the burden of the crisis in relation to bread, fuel, and all other commodities, rather than merely explaining its causes while citizens’ purchasing power continues to erode.
Perhaps popular memory recalls Mohamed Youssef Abu Huraira, Minister of Trade during Sudan’s Third Democratic Period, and the phrase, “The price controls, Abu Huraira!” This phrase has endured as a powerful symbol of state intervention to protect consumers. The lesson is not to reproduce an experience without regard for its context, but to restore the essence of public responsibility: a competitive market not monopolized by powerful and influential interests, a producer not crushed by costs, and a consumer not left at the mercy of intermediaries and speculation. Economic freedom does not mean the absence of the state, and oversight does not mean suffocating the market. What is needed is a fair set of rules applied to everyone.
What is needed now is a serious, actionable plan. It should begin with a joint operations room bringing together the relevant ministries and economic authorities, the Central Bank of Sudan, and state governments to monitor the prices of essential commodities and their production and transportation costs, while publishing weekly data that reveal the reasons behind price increases. The plan should include reviewing fees and levies that raise commodity costs, combating monopolies and invoice manipulation, opening channels for citizens’ complaints, and announcing the outcomes of efforts to address them. As for bread, flour, fuel, and production inputs must be secured, while costs, loaf weight, quality, and prices should be reviewed transparently. If necessary, targeted support should reach the families who qualify for it.
The market cannot be regulated without restoring production. Agricultural financing must therefore be provided, along with seeds, fertilizers, reliable irrigation, and energy. Transportation and storage infrastructure must be rehabilitated, and multiple fees imposed on the movement of products between states must be eliminated. The task also requires coordination between fiscal and monetary policies to curb inflation, address the depreciation of the Sudanese pound, and mitigate its effects on farmers. Trade with Egypt using local currencies or through barter could be explored, provided that the benefits are balanced and the resulting gains are passed on to consumers rather than captured by suppliers and intermediaries. These measures must be tied to a timetable and publicly announced monthly indicators covering food prices, commodity availability, and production volumes, so that results become the basis for accountability.
According to #TheFaceOfTruth, high prices become a crisis of the state when people’s ability to secure their basic needs declines while policies fail to rise to the level of the danger. The responsibility of Kamil Idris’s government is not to convince Sudanese people that the crisis is complex, but to dismantle its causes and demonstrate tangible results in the markets. A state that fails to protect production, correct market distortions, and safeguard access to a minimum level of food leaves its citizens to confront the market without support. When the price of bread becomes a measure of a family’s ability to endure, the cost of high prices is paid not only from citizens’ pockets, but also from the reserves of public trust in the state, the stability of society, and the country’s future.
May you remain well and in good health.
Wednesday, 21 October 2026
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