South Sudan tells IMF it needs more money for economic recovery

JUBA – South Sudan government is yet again asking the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for more money that will help boost its chances of success in its quest to its economic recovery.

The country’s central bank chief Dier Tong Ngor said the move is part of his restless effort to stabilize the country’s currency and curb runaway inflation.

This would be the second IMF deal with South Sudan since Africa’s youngest nation joined the lender in 2012.

The fund provided $52.3 million in November, Governor Dier Tong Ngor said, which would partly be used to help the nation stabilize its currency after a rapid depreciation.

“We are still negotiating,” Ngor said in an interview. “I am confident that we will get more than what we got before.”

South Sudan’s oil industry is steadily recovering, with production now between 170,000 barrels and 180,000 barrels a day, according to the nation’s central bank.

Output had dropped by more than half after war broke out in 2013 between President Salva Kiir’s government and forces loyal to Riek Machar, a former rebel leader and now first vice president.