Economic Reform Committee reviews Telcom taxes, fuel and salary measures

South Sudan’s Ministerial High-Level Committee on Economic Reform has reviewed several key measures aimed at strengthening the country’s economy, including tax collection, fuel supply arrangements and government expenditure.
The issues were discussed during the committee’s 18th regular meeting in Juba, chaired by East African Community Affairs Minister Pieng Deng Kuol.
Representatives of MTN, Zain and Digitel briefed the committee on their position regarding the government policy requiring mobile network operators to pay taxes in cash.
Water Resources and Irrigation Minister James Mawich Makuach, the committee’s rapporteur, said the meeting also reviewed a government-to-government fuel arrangement with Kenya.
He said the committee resolved to form a subcommittee to review the agreement and work out modalities for its implementation.
“We have also listened to a presentation from the mobile network operators on cash policy… We have also listened to a presentation on G2G arrangement, which is government-to-government fuel arrangement. And we resolve to form a subcommittee to work on the modality and see to it that the MOU on G2G is reviewed,” he said
Mawich said the Finance Minister also briefed the committee on progress in cash collection and authorized the payment of salaries for civil servants and organized forces, as well as government operating costs.
“He has briefed the committee about the progress of the cash collection, and he has also directed to authorize the payment of the salary to other organized forces, civil servants, and also the government operating costs,” he added
The committee also agreed to invite national economists and members of academia to provide technical expertise and recommendations on the ongoing economic reform process.