South Sudan finance minister to table SSP4.2 trillion budget before parliament tomorrow

JUBA – The presentation of South Sudan’s 2024-2025 fiscal year budget before the national parliament is expected to take place on Wednesday.

The government has been operating without a proper budget since the end of June, when the previous fiscal year ended.

Parliamentary Clerk Makuc Makuc said this afternoon that the finance minister Marial Dongrin Ater was originally scheduled to table the budget on Tuesday, but due to a lack of sufficient copies for lawmakers, the House postponed the session until Wednesday

“We inform Honorable Members of the national legislative assembly that the tabling of the FY 2024/2025 national budget scheduled for tomorrow Tuesday 24/9/2024 has been rescheduled for Wednesday 25/9/2025 to give appropriate time for the secretariat department to distribute the budget documents to members prior to the sitting,” Makuc told journalists.

In August, the Council of Ministers approved a revised fiscal budget of 4.2 trillion South Sudanese pounds (SSP) for the 2024-2025 financial year.

The proposed budget’s deficit is 1.9 trillion SSP, which is 45% of the proposed expenditure. This follows the cabinet’s rejection of the 2.4 trillion fiscal year budget estimates tabled by former Minister of Finance, Awow Daniel Chuang, citing a lack of priority inputs.

Deputy Minister of Information Jacob Maiju Korok said during the same press briefing that the government intends to reduce the FY budget discrepancy amid the economic crisis that has hit hard following the 70% drop in oil exports, which account for over 90% of government revenues.

“To reduce this deficit, the government will undertake the following financial options: the resumption of Dar blend exports, exchange rate realignment, grants, and borrowings,” he highlighted.

Additionally, expenses rationalization, cuts to capital expenditures, and cuts to foreign travels are some of the austerity measures that the government said it plans to take to cover the financial deficit.

The parliament will scrutinize and approve the budget after the Minister of Finance tables it. Thereafter, the national fiscal budget would then proceed to the president for assent to become an operational document guiding the government’s transactions and expenditures.