Central bank chief warns SSP will depreciate further in coming months

JUBA – South Sudan’s Central Bank Governor Moses Makur Deng has predicted in a warning to the citizens that he expects the South Sudanese Pound (SSP) to depreciate further as results of external economic factors he said his institution cannot control.

“Considering the recent development in the market; particularly on the exchange rate, the SSP has been depreciating rapidly over the last two weeks. This trend is a repeat of a year ago and numerous factors, others internal and the rest are external, which the country does not have control over them,” Makur said.

“We call the media fraternity today, to enlighten you so that you can also disseminate accurate information to the public on what reasons are responsible for the depreciation of SSP and the strategies the Bank of South Sudan is taking to curb down the further fall in the exchange rate,” he added.

He said that the conflict in Ukraine has contributed to the economic downtrend in South Sudan as well as in neighboring countries that have direct economic dealings with invading Russia and Ukraine.

“The war in Ukraine has been a major shock for global commodity markets. South Sudan’s oil revenues are increasing and the country is not directly dependent on imports of grain from Ukraine and Russia,” Makur said.

“But we are still seeing rising prices of refined petroleum products and food items which are imported from our regional countries. These developments are expected to contribute to a rise in inflation in the coming months,” he added.

As a way forward, the financial official said the government “is taking steps to reduce the impact of higher prices on people’s livelihoods. As of this week, the Ministry of Finance and Planning has begun to clear salary arrears, which will help increase households’ purchasing power.”

“The Bank of South Sudan is closely coordinating with the Ministry Finance to maintaining macroeconomic and price stability, ensure that this is done while maintaining macroeconomic and price stability.

“The Bank remains committed to the unified exchange rate, and to keep the FX market free from other impediments, to ensure that business and household remain able to purchase foreign currency at predictable and competitive rates.

“The Bank is keeping money growth below its growth ceiling of 10% per year, to ensure that the external pressures on prices in South Sudan are not compounded by excessive money growth domestically.”