Yiep Joseph
Africa-Press – South-Sudan. Amidst the recent sporadic decline in the value of the South Sudan Pound against world currencies like the US dollar, economists have put financial institutions on the spot for failing to find reliable answers to the problem.
In an interview with The City Review, Dr Abraham Maliet, an economic expert, claimed that the failure of the Bank of South Sudan to implement the resolutions of the economic forum as required had played a role in the recent trend of currency devaluation.
“Every governor that comes to the Central Bank always comes with policies, and none of those policies ever work, which means either they put them on paper and don’t implement them or they derive policies from a lack of study background,” Maliet argued.
Maliet added that for economic policies to be effective, there could be a proper study of what the policy would address and why it is important to do it.
He claimed that the dollar has become a commodity rather than a currency but little has been done by the institutions tasked.
“I have no faith in whatever this system is doing, whether the Central Bank or Minister of Finance, they are not doing the correct things,” he said.
Maliet claimed that the institutions had forgotten about the resolution of the economic forum that was meant to boost the economy.
“We had a conference here about economic issues; those recommendations, if we were to put them into practice, we would not come to this situation, but they were put to the side,” he said.
He added that the forum was attended by many experts, and their ideas could help the economy improve.
He expressed that for the country to move out of its current situation, it needs to expand its revenue sources by investing in all the existing rich sectors.
Maliet said that the country has to sit down and make use of resources such as gold, gum Arabic, and fertile land that is good for agriculture.
He called for financial discipline among the officials to allow the Central Bank to operate without interference.
“Our need for dollars has not been assessed. If that is the case, where do these five go if they auction every week? Where does this money go? Something is not right. I don’t know what it is. Something is not right. This money may not be going to the market,” he said.
Another economist, Mr Deng Majok, also stressed the need for fiscal discipline from the bank to deal with the problem.
He added that it is the role of the central bank to ensure that the currency is stable and prices are stable.
Majok added that for currency to appreciate, the Central Bank should work hard and ensure that it monitors the flexible exchange rate properly.
He said the dollar auction should yield fruit when the apex bank monitors whether the dollar reaches the intended beneficiaries.
He said that although the bank auctions the dollar for the access of the business community and the public, there may be some people keeping the dollar and making it a commodity.
“If the Central Bank could follow to make sure that this money goes to the rightful people, the business people, this is where auctioning can be effective,” he said.
He urged security to work to support the bank and ensure that the black market is eliminated.
He said, “The Central Bank used to give dollars to forex and forex to black marketers, but if the bank is supposed to eliminate the marketers, then you will find that the exchange rate will be at least stable.”
He called on the Ministry of Finance and Planning and the Bank of South Sudan to cooperate and work together to improve the economy of the country.
Last week, the governor of the Bank of South Sudan, Dr. James Alic, warned black market forex dealers that a crackdown would continue until they formalised their businesses. Alic noted that since the initiative began, there has been a rapid decline in the number of such dealers. But the pound has continued to suffer against the dollar in the black market.
Source: The City Review South Sudan
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