Analyst urges Central Bank to divert IMF grants to agricultural sector  

JUBA – A South Sudanese analyst and researcher is appealing to the government of South Sudan to divert the recently granted money from the International Monetary Funds (IMF) to the agricultural sector which he said will boost local agricultural production.

Last week, South Sudan’s Central Bank announced in a statement that it has been loaned $334 from the international monetary body.

Boboya James said in an interview with Radio Tamazuj that if the government and the banks are to help the suffering people of South Sudan, they have to inject the money for investment in the agricultural sector saying the economy will improve once we produce.

“If the Bank of South Sudan wants to help the South Sudanese, they should use this money by investing into the production sector through agriculture as one of them so that farmers can get money and produce locally and sell their produce in local currency and the conversation on dollars will come down. The economy is improved when we produce but at the moment we don’t produce but we are pumping dollars into the market,” James said.

“There is need to spend more on roads which are agriculture potential and if there is need to map out areas with agricultural potential and even if the roads are not tarmacked those roads, there is need to work on the roads so there is accessibility to the farms and people bringing food produce to Juba so that our local farm products become more competitive to those goods coming from outside,” James added.

Separately, the minister of agriculture and food security in the revitalized unity government Josephine Lagu urged the general public and the country’s underdeveloped agricultural sector to invest in agriculture to improve the economy.

“Let us support the development of agriculture because if we do that in the next few years, it will help to contribute immensely to the Gross Domestic Product of the country and we are confident that as the peace stabilizes, the private sector will come to invest in the agriculture sector,” she said.

“We strongly believe that agriculture should be looked into as the engine of economic growth in the country. If we do that it will stimulate agri-business and agro-industries and this is a sector which will diversify the economy and provide job opportunities for the younger people,” she added.