Vice-president Igga says South Sudan economy improving

JUBA – South Sudan vice-president James Wani Igga has said that the country’s economy was improving, hours after finance minister Salvatore Garang Mabiordit warned that the government faces the risk of running out of money to fund its activities.

Last month, the government said the country’s Central Bank had ran out of its foreign exchange reserve sparking huge controversy on social media among members of the public.

Speaking following a meeting with President Salva Kiir on Thursday afternoon, Igga who is in charge of the government’s economic cluster said the country’s economy was seeing improvement and revealed that the presidency will send a consignment of food items to areas badly affected by flood.

“There is an improvement in the country’s revenue collection methods. The concerned financial institutions must re-double their efforts in generating more revenue into the economy,” the senior government official told the state-run SSBC.

“As a part of the government sympathy towards our citizens affected by floods in different parts of the country especially Jonglei state, the Presidency will send a consignment of food items to the areas that are affected by the floods,” Igga added.

On Thursday, finance minister told the economic committee at the Transitional National Legislative Assembly that the government was running out of cash which he warned would undermine government efforts to fund its activities.

“The economy has been hammered down very much by COVID-19 and by the war itself,” Mabiordit told lawmakers in Juba on Thursday.

“There is no money, the trade is zero and therefore, without trade, then there will be no money to fund government priorities.”