South Sudan's English Daily Newspaper
"We Dare where others fear"

By Awan Achiek
The South Sudan Revenue Authority (SSRA) said it will not reverse the recent increase in customs taxes from 90 to 300 South Sudanese Pounds amid outcry from traders.
In October 2023, SSRA announced in a circular that the rates of conversion of merchandise had been increased from 90 SSP per dollar to 300 SSP.
Truck drivers at the Nimule border point with neighboring Uganda have been since protesting the measure that was effected on November 1.
Albino Dak, Deputy Commissioner General of SSRA said the decision to increase the customs rate for imported goods was done accordance with law and it won’t be reversed.
“There is nothing that will cancel this or reduce it, this is a law and it can’t be changed or canceled or even reduced. Let them not waste their time,” Dak said during a meeting with security organs at the Nimule border on Sunday.
He explained that the customs duty rate was fixed when $100 was exchanging at SSP 600, adding that the green buck was now exchanging for more than SSP 100,000.
Dak suggested that as a result of the depreciation of the SSP against the dollar, the customs rate could be increased further from SSP 300 to SSP 500.
“We will continue with it until next year, when this 300 SSP was fixed during the preparation of the budget, the dollar was exchanging at SSP 600 and something, so roughly you are talking about 50 percent, and now that the dollar has gone to SSP 100,000 and something, we would have even put it t SSP 600 or SSP 500,” Dak said.