One of Unity oil fields in Unity state - Credit | Joakino Francis/Eye Radio | 12 October 2010

The Minister of Cabinet Affairs attributed weak institutional capacity as one of the reasons why South Sudan’s economy is not improving.

Dr Martin Elia Lomuro pointed out that oil production institutions are weak enough to clear water from the oil wells to increase production.

He further added that the mineral sector has also not yet been explored.

“Some of our institutions are weak including the oil-producing institutions, which are supposed to increase production, and even to clear water from oil wells to increase production,” Dr Lomuro stated during a Joint Press Conference in Juba on Tuesday.

Dr martin stresses that the government is not able to influence and push some of the oil-producing companies because of the extension of the exploration production sharing agreement (EPSA) and the transitional agreement (TA).

According to the cabinet minister, the IFSA agreement on oil was not signed by the government.

“The agreement of Oil, the extension of the exploration production sharing agreement (EPSA) was never signed by us 10 years ago. It has not given us the necessary flexibility and influence on some of our oil-producing companies,” he said.

“We are not able to push them very hard for them to be able to increase oil production, judiciously.

“We even have oil wells that have not yet been explored, leave alone that, but even as weak as our institutions, our mineral sector is not explored yet,” Dr Lomuro said.

“We are not producing gold and cement, we have all these things that are not operational, so, when we say we have weak institutions, we mean it in a bigger picture not just on oil or non-oil revenue.”