By Taban Henry
The Vice President for Economic Cluster, Dr. James Wani Igga revealed that companies in the oil sector are not paying taxes to the government.
Dr. Igga was speaking during an opening session of the Economic Policy Dialogue organized by the Economic Cluster in partnership with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) through the support from the Government of Japan with the aim of enhancing decision making processes to complement the ongoing Public Finance Management reforms agenda under the theme ‘Reigniting economic recovery and inclusive growth’.
Dr. Igga said the taxes amount to billions of dollars of unpaid dues for the government.
On another development, Dr. Igga mentioned that they have finalized the payment of over $3 billion which is the Transitional Financial Arrangement (TFA) of which he referred to as a big thorn for the country since independence.
“We shall be getting instead nearly $12 million monthly from the Khartoum Government being cost of crude oil diverted by our sisterly Sudan for running their generators in Jeili and Kosti meaning the relief of the $3 billion plus reinforced with the aforementioned monthly payment will by far boost the economy of the country,” Igga said.
He mentioned that the ongoing war in Ukraine would have been avoided if diplomacy were exhausted adding that the skyrocketing of the oil prices is excellent for the oil producing countries.
“By all the standards, the increase in oil prices adds to the above-mentioned economic boom. What remains for South Sudan is good supervision and management,” he added.
He called upon the economic sector and think-tank institutions to critically investigate the areas identified being the impediments to progress and find ways forward to help economic growth to come out of the fragile state to enable South Sudan produce goods and services to the population.