Judge and gavel in courtroom - (Photo: Courtesy).

The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has sued South Sudan at a high court in London for allegedly failing to repay 657 million US dollars in trade and pandemic-related facilities, according to Global Trade Review.

Court filings seen by GTR indicate that Afreximbank has named both the South Sudan government and Bank of South Sudan as defendants in the case that was made in April 2024 but only made public this week.

The Cairo-based Afreximbank is seeking to recover funds it provided under three separate agreements.

Under a 2019 facility, Afreximbank approved a $400 million loan for South Sudan that was intended to be used for trade-enabling infrastructure, “among other things”, the filing reveals.

In August 2020, Afreximbank then extended $63 million to South Sudan under its Pandemic Trade Impact Mitigation Facility, to support the fight the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the court documents reviewed by GTR.

Again, in December 2020, Afreximbank and South Sudan entered into another pandemic facility worth $250 million to boost South Sudan’s trade sector and fiscal position, while also helping with the procurement of medical supplies during the Covid-19 crisis.

The financial institution argues that the facility – and the two earlier deals – have now fallen into default. The bank claims it is owed principal amounts of US$231mn, US$11mn and US$187mn, plus interest.

Afreximbank is also pursuing the Bank of South Sudan, which allegedly guaranteed the first and third of the facilities, according to the filings.

When contacted, National Minister of Information and Government Spokesperson Michael Makuei declined to comment on the case, adding that the Bank of South Sudan is the right entity to respond.

Further attempts to reach the Bank for comment were not immediately successful.

Eye Radio has verified the figures from a report capturing South Sudan’s external debts at the Ministry of Finance and Planning’s website, which indicates that the country owes Afrexim Bank around $650 million.

In 2022, former Minister of Finance and Planning Agak Acuil disclosed South Sudan’s external debts, owed to international financial institutions, at 2.05 billion US dollars.

Meanwhile, a lawyer representing Afreximbank reportedly told the court hearing in late January that the case is a “straightforward and simple debt claim to which there is no conceivable defence”.

Afreximbank had been seeking a summary judgment from the High Court to force repayment of the debt. GTR reported that South Sudan and its Central Bank were not represented at the hearing.

The multilateral bank argued that South Sudan officials, and the central bank, were likely aware the hearing was taking place as emails and hard copies had been sent to both institutions – though there were bounce backs.