By Bida Elly David
A Member of National Assembly has expressed concern over the continued dominance of the US Dollar over the South Sudanese Pound (SSP), despite orders by the government to promote use of national currency.
Daniel Abuch Malou, who represents Terekeka County criticized the Central Bank and the Ministry of Finance for failing to effectively implement monetary policies aimed at promoting the use of the South Sudanese Pound (SSP) as the sole legal tender for business transactions in the country.
Last year, the Bank of South Sudan issued an order restricting the use of the US Dollar as the primary medium of exchange in favour of the local currency.
However, the lawmaker, Daniel said the Dollar continues to overshadow the SSP, fueling hyperinflation.
“The governor of the Central Bank issued an order prohibiting the use of Dollars as a means of transaction in our local market, but this order has not been implemented up to now,” Malou said.
The lawmaker said the foreign currency has become dominant in the education sector, with most private schools charging fees in Dollars.
He added that the same trend is observed in the hospitality industry and the real estate market, where rents are also quoted in Dollars.
“If you go to hotels, you see them charging in dollars even some goods in the market, even renting houses in our local residents is in dollars,” he said.
Malou described the high valuation of the hard currency as unacceptable and blamed the Central Bank for failing to execute the monetary orders.
“This action is devaluating our local currency more, and I am requesting the August House to summon the governor of the Central Bank and the Minister of Finance to come and clarify on what is going on and why the local orders have not been implemented,” the lawmaker said.
In response, the Speaker of the R-TNLA, Jemma Nunu Kumba, said the summons of these institutions had already been resolved in previous discussions and that they were awaiting their appearance.
She added that the House would continue to put pressure on the Central Bank and the Ministry of Finance to address the issues of inflation and the dominance of the US Dollar in the South Sudanese economy.
“Tomorrow they will be informed to come here to answer some of these issues particularly, the inflation, oil and tell us how they will address these issues raised,’’ Nunu said.