UN envoy advises S. Sudan to develop non-oil sector to fix economic crunch

The UN Resident Coordinator for South Sudan Egune Owusu on Monday called on the South Sudanese government to diversify its revenue collection base by developing the non-oil sector to help recuperate the country's distressed economy.

Owusu said proper revenue management coupled with alternative revenue mobilization in the conflict-hit country can steer transformative national development.

He spoke at the opening of training workshop on building transparent and sustainable non-oil revenue generating systems at the states levels organized by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).

UNDP is training South Sudanese Members of Parliament on revenue mobilization and management. Oil-rich South Sudan suffered economic crisis inflicted by reduction in oil production and revenue following outbreak of civil war in 2013.

The world's youngest country relies on oil revenue for 98 percent of its budget, but oil production fell to less than 160,000 barrels per day (bpd) from 350,000 bpd in 2014, raising hyper inflation and severe cash shortage.

The government has failed to pay civil servants since August, with the Central Bank announcing plans to print more South Sudanese pounds (SSP) in a bid to reduce currency deficiency.

Mary Jarvas Yak, Deputy Finance Minister said corruption among tax collections and weak taxation laws in South Sudan have shattered government's efforts to diversify the economy.

Yak added that with the implementation of the August peace deal, the government hopes to implement stringent revenue collection mechanisms in the next financial year. Endit