The claim was made by legislator Micheal Ruot Koryom, who on Monday tabled an urgent motion highlighting the worsening cash shortage faced by citizens and civil servants across the country. He noted that government employees have been left frustrated as banks repeatedly declare that they have no cash for withdrawals.
“This situation has caused untold suffering to civil servants, many of whom are forced to borrow from other sources, creating further financial strain on their families,” Ruot said.
He explained that, in many cases, civil servants queue for long hours at commercial banks only to access limited sums of money. According to him, the banks only pay out once traders have deposited cash, and even then, the amounts are restricted to SSP 100,000 or SSP 50,000 per person.
To address the matter, Ruot recommended that both the Minister of Finance and Planning and the Governor of the Bank of South Sudan be summoned to parliament to provide clarification on the cash shortage.
James Wour, another legislator representing the South Sudan Opposition Alliance (SSOA), supported the motion, insisting that the Financial Intelligence Unit should also be summoned to explain how the country’s currency is allegedly leaking out of the economy.
“One day I asked the manager of KCB why there was no SSP available in the banks. He told me that some of our currency is in Darfur,” Wour claimed. “In areas under RSF control, there is no functioning currency because the Sudanese government changed theirs. That is why our money is being taken there. We must demand answers from the Financial Intelligence Unit.”
The lawmakers further raised concerns about multiple unofficial exchange rates emerging as a result of the cash shortage. For instance, they noted that some citizens are forced to deposit SSP 1 million to receive as little as $100, while in other cases, $100 fetches only SSP 600 when exchanged for local currency.
“Because we don’t have cash in circulation, the value of our money is being undermined. We must know where the SSP of South Sudan has gone,” Wour emphasized.
At the end of the heated session, the assembly resolved to summon Finance Minister Athian Deng Athian, Central Bank Governor Addis Ababa Othow, and the head of the Financial Intelligence Unit to explain the scarcity of local currency in banks.
In a related decision, lawmakers also agreed to summon top security chiefs, including the ministers of defense, interior, and national security, to answer questions on rising insecurity in parts of the country.
