June 15th 2018 (Nyamilepedia) – South Sudan’s Council of Ministers has on Tuesday increased the draft fiscal budget to 81.6 billion South Sudanese pounds from an early designation of 79 billion South Sudanese pounds. The increase to the draft budget is 2.6 billion South Sudanese Pounds for the fiscal year 2018/2019.
In March, the government first drafted the budget to 79 billion pounds but said recently that the increase, which is yet to be received by a parliamentary committee, came as a result of the lifting of fuel subsidies that the government rendered to the citizens since a long time ago and also some increase in the non-oil revenue in the young African Nation. This was according to the government spokesman and information minister Michael Makuei Lueth.
The adjusted budget was presented to the council of ministers by the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning on Wednesday.
Speaking shortly after the extraordinary meeting of the cabinet, the Minister of Information Michael Makuei Lueth explained why they made the adjustments:
“The increment came as a result the lifting of the subsidies from the fuel and the rise in the prices of oil and improvement in the collection of the non-oil revenue. So the budget of this year is 81.6 billion South Sudanese pound.”
The budget is expected to be tabled before the Transitional National Legislative Assembly for deliberation next week.
