Oil resumption should be expedited to relieve the suffering of citizens

South Sudan is currently facing one of the worst economic crisis in it’s history since independence in 2011.

Over reliance on oil to finance nealy 95 percent of the fiscal budget has exposed the long talked about vulnerability.

The economy we can say is wobbled in what economists dub as the “Dutch disease”. This situation is often experienced in oil dependent economies, which tend to suffer hyper inflation, unemployment and low production.

South Sudan needs to learn her lesson well and attempt seriously to diversify it’s economy powered by oil resources. The corrupt government officials should know that pillaging oil resources will exacerbate the misery of the population.

As the government steps up efforts to resume oil shipment through neighboring Sudan, there is need for it to revisit the idea of establishing an oil sovereign fund.

 This fund is well documented within the 2018 revitalized peace agreement, and yet the South Sudanese officials are totally opposed to it because it would curb their appetite for stealing oil money, if it is to be managed in a foreign country.

The current economic crisis could have been mitigated if the oil sovereign fund was available. This is the only mechanism for stabilizing the ever present run-away inflation, that this country continues to experience since outbreak of conflict in December 2013.