Finance Minister Awow Daniel addresses parliament. (-)

The Minister of Finance and Planning Awow Daniel Chuang has presented a preliminary draft of the fiscal year 2024-2025 budget to the economic cluster, amounting to 2.4 trillion South Sudanese pounds.

South Sudan is yet to present its annual budget more than two weeks after East African partners; Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Burundi presented their own – observing an existing tradition enshrined in the regional treaty.

Finance Minister Awow presented the draft to the ministerial Economic Cluster chaired by the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Josephine Lagu in Juba on Thursday.

The government projects that its annual revenue will cover about SSP1.7 trillion of the fiscal year budget, and a deficit of 742.9 billion.

Details of the draft have not been revealed, but the finance minister said 10 percent of the budget has been allocated to the agricultural sector as the main pillar of the economy.

“The budget will be funded by oil and non-oil revenue and the minister of finance will raise funds,” Deputy Agriculture Minister Lily Albino Akol told SSBC.

“The main pillar of the fiscal year 2024 2025 budget is agricultural growth. The minister of finance allocation of 10% of the fiscal year 2024-2025 budget for the agricultural sector.”

Ms. Akol said the Ministry of Agriculture and all relevant institutions under it have formulated programs in accordance with the upcoming budget, which is yet to be presented to the cabinet, parliament and the president.

In May 2023, the Council of Ministers approved a budget of 1.8 trillion South Sudanese pounds for the fiscal year 2023-2024 with a proposal to increase salaries by 400 per cent.

The expiring budget allocated SSP.50 billion for peace implementation and SSP.47.9 billion for the Constituency Development Fund (CDF).

The CDF funds were never disbursed. The country is experiencing severe inflation as the national currency weakened against the US dollar after a major pipeline transporting 60 percent of the crude oil to Port Sudan broke down in February 2024.

The situation has left civil servants unpaid for months while triggering a sharp increase in commodity prices and leaving families struggling to feed themselves.