South Sudan's English Daily Newspaper
"We Dare where others fear"
By Okech Francis
The Central Bank of South Sudan and the Ministry of Finance have unveiled measures including the bank’s autonomy from the government and austerities in government spending to control misuse of funds on non-essentials.
On Saturday, the two institutions unveiled bold plans while unveiling the monetary and fiscal policies to economic transformations in the country.
Speaking at an event in Juba, the Governor of the Central Bank, James Alic Garang insisted on severing the bank from control of the State as one of the steps to ensure effective reforms.
“For the bank of South Sudan to be effective, we shall work towards achieving and enjoying a high level of autonomy vis-a-vis both political institutions and private economic interest,” Garang said.
He fronted “four related but distinct” concepts through which the Central Bank’s autonomy will be analyzed as below.
“Institutional autonomy, indicating that the bank should not be influenced by the state or private third parties in its decision making in the context of the performance of its functions.”
“Functional autonomy, which is directed to the capability of the Central bank to implement its functions without direct government interference.”
“Personal autonomy, which ensures that key decision makers of the Central Bank, governors and members of the executive board, monetary policy committees and oversight boards are autonomous from political and private economic and social interests.”
Lastly, financial autonomy which entails the capability of the bank to pursue its mandate by way of the financial means to do so.”
Finance Minister Bak Barnaba Chol meanwhile went for austerity measures to cut down “unnecessary spending” by the government, rooting for slashing exorbitant per diems government officials request on foreign official trips.
“The Ministry of Finance and Planning will introduce an array of temporary austerity measures that would require government spending agencies to adhere to the per diem structure that will curb frequency of travels, number of delegates, (and) restricted use of government vehicles before and after work,” Chol said boldly.
He also pointed that hospital bills were another headache that is wasting government funds.
“A national health insurance policy will be our new initiative to cut down on medical bills that consume much of our budget every year,” Chol said. He added, “we intend to reschedule debts to avert some risks such as interest rate loans, engage creditors on potential extension of payback period and or debt equity swaps.”
These were just a few highlights in several other measures that will be undertaken to ensure government funds do not go to waste. Others including reforms in taxation which will include harmonizing tax systems, heightening professionalism and ensuring spending agencies take full control of all their budgets.
