South Sudan runs out of cash

File picture: Thomas Mukhoya/Reuters

File picture: Thomas Mukhoya/Reuters

Published Mar 15, 2018

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JOHANNESBURG - South Sudan has run out of cash and the economy will not be fixed unless the ongoing civil war is brought to a halt.

President Salva Kiir openly admitted as much on Wednesday and acknowledged that peace and stability had to return to the country in order for investors and other money-generating activities to resume.

The South Sudanese leader attributed the cause of being a cash-strapped nation to the war sparked by the power struggle which has ended in a more than four-year conflict with no resolution in sight despite global and regional efforts to salvage the situation, the Sudan Tribune reported.

Kiir made his comments during the swearing-in process of new finance minister following the sacking of predecessor Stephen Dhieu Dau earlier in the week.

Acknowledging that nothing could be done to salvage the loss value of the local currency, he urged government employees and citizens to work together in conjunction with institutions to do whatever was possible to mitigate the current situation.

The central bank has reported that it is no longer keeping foreign currency acquired through the sale of the proceeds of oil but only receiving and keeping local currency which is acquired from the direct sale of foreign currencies on the market.

- African News Agency (ANA)

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