Africa-Press – South-Sudan. The Minister of Finance and Planning has said the ministry has been paying salaries without cash, citing the liquidity shortage.
Dr. Marial Dongrin Ater made these remarks during the swearing-in ceremony of the new Bank of South Sudan governor, Dr. Addis Ababa Othow, and his First Deputy, Samuel Yanga Mikaya, held on Wednesday.
Dr. Dongrin told the new leadership of the financial regulator that while policies are in place to ensure full economic recovery, the biggest challenge remains accessing physical cash.
“We have come out from a very difficult period, the whole of 2024, part of 2025, we have policies in place, we have been working with them to ensure that we have a full recovery as soon as possible.
“We have the major challenge you will face: how to address the cash shortage in the economy,” he said on the state-run TV, SSBC.
According to Dr Dongrin, the Ministry has been paying salaries into accounts without cash.
“We have been able to pay for the past seven months’ salaries without fail, but that money goes into the accounts without cash. So, getting cash is the biggest problem.”
In September 2021, Dr. Julia Aker, the undersecretary at the Ministry of Labour, stated that the Ministry of Finance and Planning was the entity responsible for delaying the payment of government employees’ salaries.
Liquidity is defined as the ease with which an asset, or security, can be converted into ready cash without affecting its market price.
Despite receiving hundreds of millions of dollars in monthly oil and non-oil revenues, the government has consistently struggled to pay its civil servants.
Advocacy groups attribute this to corruption among senior government officials who pocket the public money.
Last week, the Bank of South Sudan vowed to address the ongoing liquidity shortage affecting banks “once and for all.”
The financial regulator said it has a clear strategy aimed at bringing back the large amounts of cash circulating outside the formal banking system.
In recent weeks, many South Sudanese have reported difficulties withdrawing large sums of cash, citing a shortage of liquidity at banks.
Dr. Addis Ababa Othow acknowledged the problem, attributing it to the significant volume of cash held outside the banking system.
While he did not detail the strategy, he said there is a need for collaboration with commercial banks and other financial institutions to ensure a coordinated approach.
Dr. Othow expressed confidence that once the strategy is implemented, liquidity challenges will be resolved permanently.
“We have a vision that will address this issue of liquidity, and we will address it once and for all,” he said.
The Bank of South Sudan and commercial banks have reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening cooperation within the financial sector.
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