Government forced to borrow more money to settle internal debts – Makuei

JUBA – South Sudan information minister and government spokesman Michael Makuei Lueth has said that the government has been forced to borrow more money from Africa Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) so that it can settle internal debts that he says threatens teh country’s economy.

Last month, the country’s minister of trade Kuol Athian told lawmakers that the government could not control prices of foreign currencies at local Forex bureaus and the black market because it owes a lot of money to local banks.

The senior government official said the government could not stabilize foreign currency prices because the local bank at some point threatened to take teh government to court.

Speaking to reporters following a weekly cabinet meeting, information minister Michael Makuei Lueth said the government has been forced to borrow $88 million so that it can settle these internal debts so that it can improve the economy.

“The Afreximbank in the last meeting approved a loan of $25 million,” Makuei said.

“This time the bank has decided to increase the amount, and it also approved that they will give us an additional sum of $63 million for the same pandemic trade impact mitigation,” added the senior government official.