By Taban Henry
The resource estimate in South Sudan is constrained given the rise in the prices of the imported commodities.
This came on Wednesday after the Minister of Finance and Planning presented the 2022-2023 fiscal year budget first reading in the Transitional National Legislature in its regular sitting number six of the Transitional National Legislative Assembly.
Speaking during the presentation of the budget, the Minister of Finance and Planning Agak Achuil said that the rise in the oil prices in the global market has improved the oil revenue, he however said the resource estimate is constrained given the rise in the imported commodities.
He added that the economic policy formulation and implementation will be a real challenge in the light of the macroeconomic outlook.
“South Sudan is a small and open economy which is easily affected by what takes place within the global economic system. The global economy is currently under enormous stress from climatic changes, Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine,” he said.
Achuil added that the global growth was expected to moderate from 5.9 percent in 2021 to 5.4 percent in 2022 citing that it’s expected to slow down further to 5.9 percent in 2021 to 5.4 percent in 2022.
He stated that the declines are expected to be accelerated by higher inflation caused by energy higher prices and supply chain problems; mobility restrictions brought by Covid-19 as well as the current war in Ukraine.
“The severe floods, which have hit South Sudan for the third year in a row, has affected oil production, which declined from 169 thousand barrels a day in the fiscal year 2020/2021 to 156 thousand barrels a day in the 2021/2022 and is projected to drop to around 150 thousand barrels a day in the 2022/2023,” he added.
The Minister of Finance and Planning hinted out that floods have affected agricultural output, killed livestock and have had severe impact on people’s access to essential services and humanitarian aid adding that the negative effects of floods are reflected in the projected 2.8 percent contraction in our real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the fiscal year 2021/2022, as a result our real GDP is expected to grow by 2.1 percent in the fiscal year 2022/2023.