The Bank of South Sudan says a delegation led by its Governor, Dr Addis Ababa Othow, has on Tuesday engaged Ndiami Diop, the World Bank’s Vice President for the Eastern and Southern African regions, on the sidelines of the one-week indaba.
“The discussions centred around the ongoing implementation of projects in South Sudan supported and funded by the World Bank Group,” read the statement.
“These engagements aim to strengthen collaboration efforts to secure additional financial support for South Sudan’s development initiatives,” it stated.
It was not immediately clear how much worth of loan Juba seeks to acquire from the Bretton Woods amid a biting economic crisis characterised by runaway inflation at home. The move comes amid cumulative debts from the aforementioned institutions yet to be settled by South Sudan.
The country became a member of the IMF in April 2012. As early as June 2025, IMF data shows South Sudan has outstanding “Purchases and Loans” of Special Drawing Rights amounting to 246 million, which means Juba has drawn credits/loans that are still unpaid.
In November 2020, South Sudan secured its first loan of US$52.3 million from the IMF to address its urgent balance of payments needs under the Rapid Credit Facility, followed by an emergency funding of about $114.8 million in early 2023.
Another SDR allocation came in August 2021 when the country received an additional $334 million via SDRs, which are understood to be special reserve assets from the IMF and not strictly a “loan” but a liability in accounting.
In September 2024, the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA) approved a grant of $15 million, plus additional $3 million from the South Sudan government, to fund the Building Institutional Foundations for an Effective Public Service Project aimed to improve human resource and institutional capabilities, strengthen policies, procedures and systems so that the public service can deliver basic services more effectively.
But analysts say these borrowings have translated to minimal positive progress, with economic transformation yet to be realised and institutional reforms stalled.
