Vice President Dr. James Wani Igga. (Photo/Social Media)

Vice President Dr. James Wani Igga said South Sudan’s status as the second most corrupt country in the world has obstructed investment opportunities in the country.

Dr. Igga, the head of Economic Cluster appealed to South Sudanese to avoid corruption to attract more investors into the country.

“Our country ranks among the highest in the corruption perception index, unfortunately in the whole world, this has implications on investment itself,” he said.

The vice president was speaking during the opening of a validation workshop on one-stop shop guidelines and investment opportunities in Juba on Tuesday.

He said even though there are suitable laws and viable institutions to fight corruption, the greatest challenge remains formulating a strategic and workable plan of actions.

The Vice President called for tough penalties on those engaged in the vice in the country.

Dr. Igga also called on South Sudanese to desist from bribery, adding that it discourages both national and foreigners from investing in the country.

“Don’t think that when you steal something it will not affect investment, no it has a serious implication on investment. So corruption affects not only our internal investment but also the FDI, the foreign direct investment into our country.”

Transparency International’s 2023 corruption index ranked South Sudan as the second most corrupt country in the world along with Syria and Venezuela as Somalia topped the list.

The Corruption Perceptions Index, or CPI is the most widely used global corruption ranking in the world, and measures how corrupt each country’s public sector is perceived to be, according to experts.

The CPI ranks 180 countries and territories around the globe by their perceived levels of public sector corruption, scoring on a scale of 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean).

On Wednesday, the United States government announced plans to impose visa restrictions on “multiple” South Sudanese individuals allegedly involved in corruption that fuels conflict in the country.

“Current Anti-corruption policies implemented in South Sudan targeted at enforcement measures rather than addressing the root causes.”

“The root causes of corruption can be identified to include social insecurity and inadequate decentralization of our resources.”

South Sudan was ranked 177th out of 180 countries after scoring 13, out of a scale of 100, while Somalia scored 11 and plunges to the bottom of the list for the second year in a row.

The country has remained in that position for the last two years, after beating Somalia as the most corrupt in 2021.