Igga’s cluster receives SSP862m boon for resource envelope
The governance and economic cluster led by the Vice President, Dr. James Wani Igga, has passed a resource envelope budget totalling SSP 862 billion for the 2022-2023 fiscal year.
This came up in the cluster’s extraordinary meeting, which was chaired by the national minister for finance and planning, Agak Achuil Lual on Thursday.
The budget will be an overview of the “macroeconomic and financial estimate.”
The Deputy Minister for Agriculture and Food Security, Lily Albino, said the resource envelope was passed and would be discussed by the ministry of finance with stakeholders before being tabled at the Reconstituted Transitional National Legislative Assembly (R-TNLA) for approval.
“The cluster also urged the Ministry of Finance to consider the payment of the community development fund because this will also allow the ministry to have enough revenue,” Lily said.
Sticking to reforms
In January 2022, the Minister for Finance and Planning, Agak Achuil Lual, promised to apply the Public Financial Management Reforms, to revive the economy.
This was after his discussion with the Troika ambassadors on the Public Financial Management Reform agenda, enhancement of macroeconomic stability, sustainable financial resource mobilization, effective planning and budgeting, prudent resource allocation and government spending, organisational capacity strengthening, and overall inter-governmental fiscal discipline.
“I reassured the ambassadors of the commitment of President Salva Kiir Mayardit and his government to continue with the reform process,” said Agak on his Facebook post.
“We also touched on the issuance of sovereign guarantees, of which I informed the ambassadors of the leadership’s commitment to not backtrack on proper debt sustainability frameworks, as well as the avoidance of non-concessionary oil.”
He appealed to the development partners to assist in limiting the negative impacts of natural disasters like floods and the COVID-19 pandemic.
“South Sudan is experiencing unprecedented challenges in the New Year, worsened by flooding that has destroyed sources of livelihoods across the country. Food insecurity and humanitarian situation are likely to worsen,” Agak noted.
“The leadership has taken note of these and is trying to put mechanisms in place to mitigate the impacts, but we call for a close collaboration with our development partners to consolidate and coordinate our efforts in assisting those in need.”
“Stop borrowing”
In December, the head of the department of economics at the University of Juba, Moris Madut, said the country should start collecting non-oil revenue and shun borrowing.
Madut noted that the Public Financial Management Reforms had stabilised the currency exchange rate, calling for transparent publishing of the budget. He added that the commodity prices might stabilise in mid-2022 if the reforms are implemented.
“I believe that towards the middle of 2022, there will be a general stabilisation of prices because, as you have seen, the current minister of finance has continued with the reforms already started by his predecessors,” he said.
“I believe if he continues implementing such reforms, then we will definitely experience some growth into the New Year given the relatively increasing oil prices, which right now stand at about $76.5 per barrel,” he added.
