Speaker Jemma Nunu Kumba hands passed budget to President Salva Kiir. | 7th October 2022. | Photo: Office of President/Facebook.)

President Salva Kiir has directed the Ministry of Finance and Planning to conduct a national economic conference to address challenges facing the economy.

Kiir says the conference should bring together all stakeholders including the development partners.

The president says the recommendations of the conference will help find solutions and reforms in the country’s economy.

Kiir was addressing lawmakers during the inauguration of the reconstituted transitional national legislature in Juba this morning.

“I’m today directing the Ministry of Finance and Planning to organize South Sudan National Economic Conference that will complement the ongoing Public Finance Management Reforms,” he said.

“This economic conference should bring together all the sectors of our economy and the stakeholders, including our development partners. The objective of this conference will be to address the fundamental challenges that are holding our economy back.”

“The recommendations from the conference will help us chart a way forward on structural reforms we need to undertake to revive our economy.”

President Kiir further admitted that the country’s economy ‘has not been performing well’.
This, according to him, is due to both internal and external factors.

“The government recognizes that our economy has not been performing well due to both continued internal and external shocks. Our internal shocks are mainly a result of our dependency on oil whose prices often fluctuate in the international market.”

President Kiir’s remarks come at a time when South Sudan’s currency continues to loosen its value against the US dollar.

As of Monday, March 27, 2023, one US dollar is selling at 847 pounds in the bank.

Experts have repeatedly called for structural and institutional reforms to address the country’s economic woes.