Finance Minister Marial Dongrin Ater. (Photo: Lou Nelson/Eye Radio).

Newly appointed Minister of Finance and Planning Marial Dongrin Ater said the institution will set a new revenue target for FY 2024/2025 in few days as he officially took up his post on Monday.

Outlining his key priorities, Minister Dongrin said the finance ministry will request the Bank of South Sudan (BoSS) to provide a list of all government accounts at central and commercial banks with corresponding signatories.

He said the list of accounts will be used to form the basis for implementing President Kiir’s directive on the consolidation of government bank accounts.

Mr. Dongrin added that his ministry will work together with the Bank of South Sudan to coordinate fiscal and monetary policy alignment to stabilize the market.

The minister further underscored that the budget for the fiscal year 2024/2025 – which is currently under review – focuses on agricultural sector development and investment in critical infrastructure, the government will prioritize financial allocation to the sectors.

When passed, the budget, in his words, will stimulate domestic productivity, self-sufficiency and economic growth.

He also emphasized on cutting non priority public sector spending to ease pressure and direct resources towards facilitating the recovery program that the ministry shall soon rollout.

“With the South Sudan Revenue Authority, the Ministry will revise upward and issue by the end of this week a new revenue target for the fiscal year 2024/2025,” he said during his reception ceremony at his office in Juba on Monday.

“The board and the management of the South Sudan Revenue Authority will immediately formulate and executive a strategy to achieve the new target that will soon be communicated.”

He further disclosed that the SSRA will be compelled to provide daily revenue collection report in order to track progress and address impediments.

“The ministry of finance and planning will provide the necessary support to ensure strict implementation of the ministerial order suspending all non-statutory exemption.”

President Kiir appointed Dongrin as Finance Minister in a Republican Decree on Wednesday, July 10, having fired Awow Daniel Chuang after serving for only three months in office.

Mr. Awow took over from Dr. Bak Barnaba Chol, who was sacked in March 2024 after replacing Dier Tong in August 2023 – a string of decrees that has seen Kiir kick out three finance ministers in just one year.

The new finance minister has promised to pursue realistic and viable actions to address South Sudan’s dire economic crisis.

South Sudan is suffering inflation after the Sudan war damaged facilities transporting its chief crude oil to the Red Sea, leaving the national currency weakened against the US dollar.

Civil servants and members of the organized forces have not been paid for nearly 10 months and the government has been operating for a month without a new fiscal year budget in place.

Recently, Sudanese oil firm – Bashayer Pipeline Company (BAPCO) – said the interruption of the flow of South Sudan oil through Sudanese pipelines has cost the economies of both nations millions of dollars in losses.

BAPCO Chairman Engineer Mohamed Saleh Osman told state-owned Sudan News agency that the transportation of South Sudan oil through Sudan will resume after four months, contrary to an early statement projecting the resumption to July 2024.