By Mamer Abraham
South Sudan expects economic relief after 2023 fall meetings of the World Bank Group (WBG) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Marrakech, Morocco.
As the International Monetary Fund released its economic outlook for the year 2023, global economic growth stagnated at only three percent.
But contrary to this report, South Sudan’s economists who attended the meeting have concealed hope of a resurrected economy that the country might learn from in recent months.
Dr. Bak Barnaba Chol, the national minister for finance, said upon arrival at Juba International Airport (JIA), that the country’s economy is recovering and that they are endeavoring to improve it as soon as possible.
“We are recovering and doing our best to restore the economy to its wheels,” he said.
The governor of the Bank of South Sudan (BoSS), Dr. James Alic Garang, who also attended the annual meeting, said the world’s economists exhaustively discussed challenges facing the world economies and mechanisms to solve them.
Alic said the emphasis was on the restoration of global economic stability, the eradication of poverty, inclusive economic growth, job creation, and approaches to addressing climate change.
Last week, a senior market analyst at a brokerage firm called Oanda said there was already a sense of economic resilience globally.
“Right now, it does seem like we’ve seen a steady amount of economic resilience,” said Moya.
“Every time we expect the labor market to slow down, we get surprised with an impressive payroll number,” Moya said.
But, Scheherazade Rehman, who teaches international finance at George Washington University, said the currency exchange was favoring nations that own the dollar, while other nations like Ethiopia, Sri Lanka, and Ghana, among others, were suffering due to high exchange rates.
“So, I can buy others’ goods—the ones I import—cheaper. My investments overseas, whether it’s in real estate or financial assets, are cheaper because of the exchange rate now that my dollar is stronger,” said Rehman.
“Now, basically, they’re in distress. Countries like Ethiopia, Sri Lanka, and Ghana—pick any one of them.”
The South Sudanese Pound is currently trading at SSP 1032 against a dollar, while it is bought at SSP 1001 in the Central Bank.
Although it is worth noting that the foreign exchange has remained constant for months, there has been a slight increase in piasters each day.