South Sudan's English Daily Newspaper
"We Dare where others fear"
By Awan Achiek
The much-anticipated 2024/25 fiscal budget will on Friday be tabled by the Minister of Finance and Planning, Awow Daniel Chuang before cabinet for discussion.
“So it was delayed because there was no Council of Ministers last week, that’s why it was not passed. So this week maybe it will be passed and then we are going to bring it to the House,” Chuang said while appearing before MPs in the Transitional National Legislative Assembly on Tuesday in Juba.
He noted that this year’s fiscal budget has already been approved by the economic cluster chaired by Vice President for Economic Cluster Dr. James Wani Igga.
Chuang said that they have already suspended payments to government spending agencies because of the official closure of the fiscal year budget for 2023/24.
He said that he has written to President Salva Kiir Mayardit requesting him to reopen the old budget for the government to run.
“We will seek exemptions for us to run before the new budget is passed, because we cannot also close it and then continue to be closed,” Chuang said.
South Sudan lags behind its East African Community (EAC) partners—Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and Burundi—which have already presented their annual budgets, adhering to an established regional tradition.
Finance Minister Awow Daniel Chuang recently presented a preliminary draft of the fiscal year 2024/25 budget to the economic cluster totaling 2.4 trillion South Sudan Pounds.
The government projects that its annual revenue will cover approximately SSP 1.7 trillion of the budget, leaving a deficit of 742.9 billion SSP.
While details of the draft remain undisclosed, the finance minister revealed that 10 percent will be allocated to the agricultural sector, recognizing it as a vital pillar of the economy.
