Yiep Joseph
Africa-Press – South-Sudan. South Sudan now faces a fresh challenge in surrendering oil contractual information to meet the IMF demand amid parallel pressure to effect financial reforms.
The East African reported that the Juba administration is under pressure to disclose oil production deals.
“Based on the Bretton Woods Institution country report for South Sudan dated June 202, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) demanded the disclosure of oil production agreements to help build credibility with donors and unlock concessional financing as it implied transparency. However, South Sudan is reported to argue that the move is tantamount to a ‘breach of contractual agreements’ with oil extracting companies,” it reported.
In February 2023, the IMF approved the country’s nine-month Programme Monitoring with Board Involvement (PMB) with several targets, including a requirement that South Sudanese authorities publish all signed oil production sharing agreements with oil-extracting companies as well as quarterly reports on the oil sector by June 2023.
In May, President Salva Kiir directed his national security advisor, Tut Gatluak, to engage in peace negotiations with the warring factions in Sudan. The aim was to resolve the ongoing conflict and facilitate the repair of a crucial oil pipeline damaged during the fighting.
The directive was issued during a high-level meeting with the Chinese ambassador, MA Qiang, representatives from oil companies, and officials from the Ministries of Petroleum, Security, and Defense.
China was South Sudan’s top oil customer in 2021, receiving 65.7 per cent of the East African country’s oil exports, according to the Observatory of Economic Complexity. China has longstanding oil relations with South Sudan that predate the succession from Sudan.
South Sudan continues to face a lot of challenges, such as the current economic crisis, which has made the cost of living very high for the citizens.
In most cases, the government continues to introduce some measures to improve the economic crisis, but it still persists.
Source: The City Review South Sudan
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