South Sudan Plans Bigger Budget After Expanding Government
South Sudan Plans Bigger Budget After Expanding Government
South Sudan plans to increase its budget by 29% to fund a government that was expanded under a peace deal to end six years of armed conflict.
The East African nation’s government proposed spending 268 billion South Sudanese pounds ($1.6 billion) for 2020-21, compared with 208 billion pounds in the previous fiscal year, Deputy Finance Minister Agok Makur said by phone from the capital, Juba.
“This budget is mainly to implement the peace agreement” and partly to meet an increase in the government wage bill, Makur said. “It will help to cater for all the structures.”
President Salva Kiir and Riek Machar, his deputy and former rebel leader, want to rebuild their oil-producing country after the men agreed a three-year transitional government in February. That marked the end of a civil war that claimed more than 400,000 lives since fighting started in 2013, and crushed the economy.
South Sudan’s oil production is about 170,000 barrels a day, less than half the output just before the war broke out. The commodity is the nation’s economic lifeblood, with China Petroleum Corp., Petroliam Nasional Bhd. and Oil & Natural Gas Corp. of India among the companies operating in the country.
Some previous budget outlays were carried over from last year, as government delayed implementation of projects pending the formation of the new government, according to Makur. The parliament, currently being constituted, needs to approve the budget before spending.
©2020 Bloomberg L.P.