A pumpjack drilling crude oil. (Credit: ded pixto/Shutterstock)

A member of the national legislative assembly is seeking clarifications regarding the alleged multi-billion-dollar oil-for-loans agreement between the Ministry of Finance and a foreign company.

In April 2024, a leaked document showed that South Sudan has agreed with a United Arab Emirates firm to lend the country about 12.9 billion US dollars in exchange for crude oil payment in the next 20 years.

The agreement, seen in a report of the UN Security Council’s panel of experts, was first published by the Bloomberg news agency, but it is yet to be officially released to the public.

Negotiated on the sidelines of the COP28 Summit in Dubai 2023, the deal is said to be nearly double the GDP of South Sudan and about five times the country’s current external debt of 2.5 billion US dollars.

Hon. Gai Mayen Luk from Lakes State, took the floor during a session of the Assembly Monday to express grave concerns over the way the deal was signed without the parliament’s notice.

He asserted that if indeed such a massive loan was secured by the government, it warrants transparency and accountability to the citizens of South Sudan.

Mayen called on the national cabinet to provide detailed information regarding the terms and conditions of the purported agreement, as well as the purpose for which it was acquired.

“This Bill give us an opportunity as Parliament to call out the executive on gross mismanagement of resources of this country,” he said during the debate on the Finance Management and Accountability Amendment Bill.

“For instance, one key item which can be highlighted is the recent candle of a deal of 13 billion US dollars, which the government of South Sudan has supposedly attempted to acquire from the United Arab Emirates.”

“Since that candle came to light Madam Speaker, we have not seen any statement which has been issued by the minister of finance or any relevant institution denying or confirming it.”

Lawmaker Mayen said the executive’s silence about the purported agreement since it surfaced on the media, requires careful scrutiny from the parliament.

“This gives us a bit of doubt whether there is nothing fishy which is going on and many other deals which our country has been committed to.”

Commenting on the government’s borrowing policy, he also referred to the decision of an arbitration body last week, which passed a resolution that South Sudan should pay 1 billion dollars to Qatar National Bank.

“This are some of the examples of many loans that this country has been committed to without the approval of relevance institutions and the Parliament.”

Honoroble Mayen stressed the importance of upholding principles of financial prudence and ensuring that any borrowing aligns with the best interests of the nation and its people.