The Bank of South Sudan Offices in Juba. (Courtesy).

The Bank of South Sudan says it will triple the foreign exchange auctions to commercial banks and Forex Bureaus starting next week.

The undisclosed amount of money is in a bid to stabilize the foreign exchange market.

In a press release signed by the governor, Dr. James Alic Garang, the central bank says the new measures are due to the seasonality factor, as schools open in the region and public demand for foreign exchange picks up.

The country’s financial regulator says the policy direction is intended to reduce the pressure on the domestic currency, the SSP, and stabilize the general price level.

On the monetary policy, “the bank announced that it will strengthen the capacity to deploy effective instruments, targeting money supply through the issuance of more regulations and guidelines over liquidity management and reserve requirements.”

It added that “in collaboration with the fiscal authorities, the bank will re-introduce short-term debt instruments with commensurate returns.’

Commensurate return is actual money payment or documentation of money spent on the client’s behalf.

The central bank went on to say “it would neither tolerate unscrupulous actions nor hesitate to bring serious sanctions on offenders as it rolls out the new measures.”

It also encouraged market participants to assist in ensuring that the new measures engender the preservation of its external reserves, the stability of the country’s financial system, and the growth of the economy.

The central bank has since been using the auction policy, which has been criticized by some economists, in a bid to rescue weakening pounds that have sent commodity prices skyrocketing.

It believes that the auction of hard currency to both the forex bureaus and commercial banks is likely to prevent further depreciation of the South Sudanese pound against the U.S. dollar.

According to the Central Bank’s official Facebook page, as of today, 100 dollars sells at 110,000 pounds.