BREAKING: Kiir fires central bank chief, reinstates predecessor

Governor of Central Bank of South Sudan Jamal Abdalla [Photo via Radio Tamazuj]

JUBA – South Sudan President Salva Kiir Mayardit has this evening sacked the country’s Central Bank Governor, Jamal Abdallah Wani, in a republic decree, replacing him with his predecessor Dier Tong Ngor who was ousted to be replaced by Jamal himself in January this year.

The decree read out on the state ran South Sudan Broadcasting Corporation (SSBC) did not cite reasons for the sacking, but the world’s youngest country has been in economic crisis over corruption, civil war, coronavirus pandemic and global fall of oil prices.

The sacking comes two months after the Central Bank chief announced during a press conference in August that the world’s youngest country has ran out of its foreign exchange reserve.

The country’s minister of trade had also said during a briefing to lawmakers a months later that the government could not control foreign currency market because it owes local companies and banks millions of dollars.

Last month, the government announced plans to change the local currency because citizens are hoarding money at home.

The announcement made by the minister of information and government spokesman Michael Makuei Lueth let to unprecedented lost of value for the local currency.

President Salva Kiir’s office later on denied that the government plan, saying Makuei was not authorized to announce any intention for change of the currency, Pound.