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South Sudan is in a serious crisis due to the sharp depreciation of its currency against the US dollar.
The devaluation of the South Sudanese pound has plunged the country into deeper inflation and widespread hardship.
Reports from black market traders on Wednesday showed the South Sudanese pound trading at as high as 4,000 to the dollar, reflecting a rapid decline in recent weeks.
In an interview with Radio Tamazuei, Dr Abraham Maliette, a senior economic adviser to the government, warned that the country was in danger of falling into disaster if the Ministry of Finance did not take immediate and decisive action.
Mariette said permanent solutions lie in improving security and reviving agricultural production, but short-term solutions to curb inflation include effective collection of non-oil revenues and protecting public funds from misuse.
“It’s not sustainable to rely solely on oil to make money because oil itself is controversial,” said Maliette.
“I urge the finance minister to focus on collecting non-oil revenues. Non-oil revenues are plentiful but we are not collecting them properly; the system to collect these revenues is not entirely effective.”
Malliet noted that tax collection was seriously flawed, blaming it on systemic flaws and saying some companies had been evading taxes for more than a decade.
“Import taxes also generate revenue in U.S. dollars. Some people working in the country are paid in U.S. dollars, so it doesn’t make sense not to pay taxes in U.S. dollars,” he said.
“Big companies working in South Sudan sell their goods in dollars. So, the dollars are there. The minister just needs to assemble a team that listens to him and is fully qualified to do the job, not one that has other political ambitions,” Maliette added.
The economist stressed the importance of appointing a competent, dedicated and politically neutral team to carry out the Ministry of Finance’s mandate.
Economic difficulties caused by inflation The impact on South Sudanese families is profound, said Michael Ghai Tong, a Juba resident.
“This situation has hit the common man hard. Prices of basic food items have skyrocketed, water rates have increased, and ticket prices have become outrageous. Civil servants, who were already underpaid, have not been paid for another nine months,” he said.
South Sudan, which gained independence in 2011, has been plagued by war and economic turmoil. The country’s economy is heavily dependent on oil exports, an industry that is vulnerable to fluctuations in global conditions.
Political instability and a fragile security environment have hampered efforts to stabilize the economy.
this New Ministry of Finance No plan has been announced to resolve the currency crisis.
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