A motorist changes money from a boy at a market in Juba, South Sudan. (PHOTO: Courtesy).

South Sudan has been ranked by Forbes as the poorest country in the world in terms of GDP per capita and Purchasing Power Parity (PPP), data that a researcher in Juba said is justifiable due to the lack of exploitation of available resources.

In the Forbes report, South Sudan appeared at number one among the top 10 poorest nations in the world in terms of GDP per capita Purchasing Power Parity.

This is followed by Burundi, the Central African Republic, Somalia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique, Niger, Malawi, Chad, and Liberia.

South Sudan according to a Forbes report, has a Gross Domestic Product of 3.9 billion Dollars – the least of any country in the world.

Commenting on the report, Dr. Augustino Ting, a member of the Ebony Center in Juba says it makes sense that South Sudan is the poorest country in the world in terms of economic production.

“It only makes sense in terms of the economic production. So, we are poor although we are endowed with abundant natural resources,” he said on Eye Radio’s Sundown Program on Thursday.

“But being rich or being wealthy only makes sense if you are able to use those resources and be able to produce that well that provides for all, we don’t have that.”

“Even though we have oil, even though we have forest, we have this agricultural potential it has not been exploited. So, by GDP terms, we are the poorest country”.

The report cited extreme poverty driven by abundant global wealth in possession by some countries while smaller and less powerful countries in challenging regions rank at the bottom ten economies.