South Sudan to tighten control over govt spending
4 min read(AFP) – 10 hours ago
JUBA — South Sudan will tighten control over government spending with a series of reforms that limit monthly cash expenditure and increase transparency of payments, an official statement said on Sunday.
The changes come after Finance Minister Kosti Manibe Ngai and his staff met with government spending agencies last week “to discuss key reforms including immediate implementation of monthly cash limits for agencies,” the statement said.
South Sudan, which gained formal independence from the north on July 9 after decades of civil war, is one of the poorest countries on earth.
“The reforms would allow agencies to better plan their expenditure, as well as giving them more power over the implementation of their budgets,” said Finance Undersecretary Salvatore Garang Mabiordit.
It also allows for increased transparency in the way that payments are made by the government,” he added.
The fledgling nation faces a host of daunting challenges, including the rampant corruption new President Salva Kiir has repeatedly vowed to confront.
Other reforms to be introduced from November 1 include “payments being made directly to properly registered vendors rather than through government agencies, more rigorous controls over the signing of government contracts, clearing of arrears, and improved accountability procedures for petty cash expenditure,” the government statement said.
In an open letter last month, Kiir said new measures, including regulation of land sales and publication of government officials’ finances, would lead to greater transparency and accountability.
Opposition leader of the SPLM-DC party Lam Akol has said that tackling graft and ensuring that people “see the fruits of peace” with improved services is key to the new nation’s socio-economic success.
Akol, who this month pledged his support in helping Kiir build the new nation after years of bitter rivalry that pushed him out of the country, said a proper crackdown on corruption was necessary.
“The level of services that have been done in the last six years is not commensurate with the amount of money that has come into the coffers of the south,” said Akol.
He called for stricter controls on oil revenues and donor money, fearing a donor pullout unless the international community’s goodwill is met “not only through lip-service but through action.”
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South Sudan’s $200 million monthly plan to save fledgling economy
South Sudan’s central bank will double its monthly economic support plan to $200 million as it fights to stabilise a rapidly devaluating local currency that has seen the price of goods double since independence in July this year.
The government has been injecting $100 million every month but this was not enough as the newly independent country struggles to find its economic footing in the region.
The South Sudanese Pound has been exchanging at 4.0 to the dollar against commercial banks, from 2.75 before independence.
Even the black market rate has taken a battering, exchanging at 4.2 to the US currency, up from 3.0 before July.
This has seen the prices of goods and services that are mostly imported from East Africa on a high.
Central bank governor Kornelio Koryom blamed the rapid devaluation of the Pound on a limited supply of hard currency, forgery and the repatriation of the local unit by foreign workers who account for a significant portion of business in the country.
Prices doubled
Mr Koryom said prices have doubled since independence due to multiple taxation on goods and services, an expansionary fiscal expenditure, poor border controls and hoarding of commodities.
The interior ministry blames cash extortion points across the country for fuelling the price rises which have seen the Finance and Economic Planning ministry directed to get a handle on fiscal factors weakening the economy.
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