The Minister of Finance today before the national parliament presented a budget of over ten billion pounds for the fiscal 2015/ 2016.

Much of the expenditure of the budget will focus on security, salaries and other income generating activities.

“The budget which I am presenting is a lean budget; we will use our limited resources to keep the government running and endeavor to provide services to all the communities of South Sudan while seeking sources of financing externally and domestically to cover our deficits,” said Deng Athorbei.

“This lean budget keeps non- essential expenditures to a minimum while prioritizing our first step towards implementation of three-year work plan.”

Mr. Athorbei told members of parliament that this year’s budget has been affected by the current crisis, and decline in the prices of oil in the international market.

Oil production has been reduced by at least a third since the fighting broke out, with many oil wells damaged and output in decline at functioning fields due to a dearth of spare parts.

In late May, Stephen Dhieu, Oil minister, said production had dropped to 165,000 barrels per day from between 168,000 and 169,000 barrels per day in January.

He cited technical reasons as opposed to fighting in oil producing areas.