By Bida Elly David
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has reiterated commitment to extend their support to South Sudan as a mechanism to mitigate the ongoing global economic recession that had spiked up commodity prices and reduced global industrial production.
This development arose over the weekend during a meeting between President Salva Kiir Mayardit and a delegation from the International Monetary Fund headed by Cathy Patillo, the deputy director for Africa Affairs Department.
The meeting attended by the Minister of Finance and Planning Dier Tong Ngor, and the Executive Director in the Office of the President James Deng Wal, centered on matters of public financial management and reforms in the Country.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a global financial Institution that plays the role of aiding Countries with financial support and loans to recover broken gross domestic products (GDP). The Institution in conjunction with the World Bank has contributed a lot towards resolving balance of payment problems that many Countries face across the globe. They give loans to Countries that face acute economic recession.
Reports from global economic analysts revealed that 90% of the global economy has been experiencing hectic recession due to the deadly fight between Russia and Ukraine being the leading Countries in the exportation of gains into the global market.
The report also revealed out Covid-19 pandemic as being one of the factors that hindered global industrial production due to the continuous lockdown that impacted leading producing industries in the world.
The institution over the past years has been playing greater role towards restoration of South Sudan’s balance of payment problems through loans and grants that rescued the Country from random economic recession into glorious position.
Despite the fact that South Sudan receives grants from financial institutions, there is still much need for more aids as the Country battle challenges caused by disasters such as drought, flooding, influx of pests into farmyards and man-made disasters such as political wars, ethnic conflicts, and cattle raiding that lost lives of many citizens and displaced many to refugee camps.
In a statement seen by No.1 Citizen Daily Newspaper from the Presidential Facebook page yesterday, Ms. Cathy Patillo, the IMF Deputy Director for African Affairs Development said that their support would aid the government of South Sudan towards responding to global economic crises such as food insecurity, increase in commodity prices among many others.
Speaking to the media after the meeting, Dier Tong Ngor said a team of IMF experts will be visiting the country next week to meet with the financial institutions of the country to design social safety nets to protect the vulnerable households.