By Tereza Jeremiah Chuei
The Bank of South Sudan Governor Jonny Ohisa Damian met with the Auctioning Supervisory Committee (ASC) and solidly decided to reduce the weekly auction amount to USD 6 million for commercial banks and USD 4 million to forex Bureau down from USD 12 million and 8 million Dollars per week respectively.
According to the Central Bank governor the auction amount reduction was based on the analysis from the auction supervisory committee and trend of the foreign exchange market development.
He said the analysis indicates that the markets is liquid and doesn’t need additional dollars.
It was also noted that the sharp currency depreciation has been reversed and South Sudan Pound appreciated by 9.4 per cent on average from 695.5/$ on August 4th 2022, to 635.0/$ On September 28th, 2022.
In a Statement seen by No.1 Citizen Daily Newspaper, the governor stated that inflation is moderating and growth is broad, adding that “money slowed down and have been controlled.”
“With respect to other key macroeconomic indicators, the monthly consumer price index (CPI) has declined by 1.45 percent in the month of august 2022 compared to the growth of 4.97 percent, while the annual inflation has declined in the month of august compared to July annual increment, (according to the South Sudan national Bureau of Statistics latest release)” part of the statement read.
However, the BOSS added that the growth in broad money has decreased by 4.7 percent in the month of august 2022 on monthly basis compared to the growth rate of 56.59 per cent in July 2022.
“The Bank of South Sudan is keenly monitoring the development and will continue to revise the amount of forex auction guided by market forces to meet the foreign exchange demand by the business fraternity,” it noted.
The bank further stated that it will pursue contractionary monetary policy, while considering other monetary policy instruments at its disposable, as well as maintaining its presence in the foreign exchange market and continue to intervene occasionally to smoothened high exchange rate volatility.