The Council of Ministers has approved the budget for the fiscal year 2016/2017.

The budget for this year is at the tune of nearly 30 billion South Sudanese Pounds.

This was resolved during an extraordinary meeting of the Cabinet on Wednesday.

The budget doubled that of the year 2015-2016 which was about 10.3 billion South Sudanese Pounds.

Addressing the media after the cabinet meeting, the Minister of Information, Michael Makuei, said the budget was not passed due to the delay in the implementation of the peace agreement.

Mr Makuei said the budget aims at restoring confidence in local markets by improving key indicators of economic growth.

South Sudan’s fiscal year starts on the 1^st of July every year. This year the country is behind by nearly two months.

The budget will now be tabled in the Transitional National Legislative Assembly for further deliberations.