By Bida Elly David
The Bank of South Sudan (BoSS) has directed commercial banks to close bank accounts created by some government institutions across the country.
This directive came after the Central Bank had noticed several financial transactions made directly between commercial banks and the national bank across the Country.
According to a joint statement seen by No.1 Citizen Daily Newspaper yesterday, the managing directors of the national bank, instead of opening accounts with the central bank, public institutions transact with commercial banks for quick withdrawals.
“In light of the inconsistencies observed in the financial dealings of the public institutions, the Bank of South Sudan is hereby directing all commercial banks to close all bank accounts belonging to government institutions such as ministries, commissions, and state governments,” the statement reads.
The managing directors noted that the national Ministry of Finance and Planning in collaboration with Central Bank discovered that the government institutions in question acted without their knowledge.
“The Ministry of Finance and Planning noted that some government institutions opened bank accounts in commercial banks either through an authorization from the Ministry of Finance and Planning, or directly without the consent of the ministry and the Bank of South Sudan,” the statement quoted.
The directors maintained that the Central Bank is the only medium for financial transactions for government institutions across the country.
The country’s banking regulatory body however, stated that the restriction does not include donor institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and the African Development Bank (AfDB) as well as the UN.
They added all government accounts shall be closed except names of the exempted accounts of the international monetary institutions and UN and other agencies should be delivered to the Central bank not later than 27th– Jan-2023.
The bank underlined that all account balances of all the government institutions (Ministries, Commissions, and State Governments) affected by the directives should be transferred to a suspense account for further directives to be communicated at later date,” the directors ordered.