John Ohisa Damian, Governor of the Central Bank. | Courtesy.

President Salva Kiir confirmed on Thursday the appointment of Johnny Ohisa Damian as new Governor of the Central Bank.

In a presidential decree broadcasted on the state-owned television SSBC, on Thursday evening, Kiir appointed Ohisa, who had acted as the governor since his former boss was sacked early this month.

Kiir had fired the former Governor Moses Makur Deng, at a time of deteriorating economic crisis characterized by inflation and skyrocketing commodity prices.

The country’s pound currency has struggled to gain momentum against the United States dollars, despite the policy of auctioning hard currency by the Bank on daily or weekly basis.

In a separate Republican decree, Kiir also relieved Central Bank’s First Deputy Governor, and appointed Equity Bank’s Managing Director Addis Ababa Othow as the new First Deputy Governor.

Johnny Ohisa Damian was the first Deputy Governor in charge of Policy and Banking in the Bank of South Sudan since April 30th 2021.

Before his appointment, he was the Director General for Currency and Banking Operations in the Bank of South Sudan from May 17th 2019 to April 30th 2021.

Damian previously worked as a Managing Director for the International Commercial Bank.

He also worked for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in Sudan, Kenya and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).