South Sudan's English Daily Newspaper
"We Dare where others fear"
The dwindling oil revenues due to the ongoing war in neighboring Sudan have cast a reality check on South Sudan.
The vulnerability of South Sudan’s economy is when the oil taps are turned off. The current pressures to clear outstanding arrears and debt could have been avoided if there was a sovereign fund to manage oil revenues.
This fund if it had been set up during the oil boom years could have saved our nose-diving economy.
Despite the minister of finance promising lawmakers on Monday, that delays of salaries will be sorted out soon, the reality demonstrates this won’t happen soon.
The 2018 revitalized peace agreement calls for setting up the sovereign oil revenue fund with an escrow account in a foreign country, if this had diligently been done, our officials would not be hopping on planes to go and beg for financial relief in the Middle East and Western capitals.
The time has come for our leaders to be frugal and tame their reckless appetite for spending on non-essential items.
If I was President Salva Kiir, I would declare austerity measures to ensure better management of the available meager resources in the treasury.
The road ahead is scary and worrying if the warring parties in neighboring Sudan do not reach a peace deal fast enough.
