S. Sudan launches Treasury bills amid budget deficit

South Sudan's government started the sale of Treasury bills on Wednesday to foreign and national investors in a bid to borrow money to fund its activities.

Bank of South Sudan governor Kornelio Koriom said the Treasury bills would help the government address its budget deficit and reduce the country's inflation rate that soared to 661.3 percent in August.

"By doing Treasury bills, the pressure on printing new money has disappeared because printing more money will cause further inflation," Koriom said during the launch of South Sudan's Treasury Bills auction.

South Sudan depends on oil revenue to finance some 98 percent of its budget, but its oil production was interrupted by a civil war that broke out in December 2013.

Koriom said South Sudan needed to broaden its production base through alternative revenue generating ventures such as gold mining and agriculture production to lift the country out of the ongoing economic turmoil.

Anthony Wang, a financial markets consultant with the Bank of South Sudan, said the introduction of the Treasury bills would help spur foreign direct investment and raise revenue for the war-torn country. Endit