Minister of Finance summoned, denies his previous statement on “oil presold”.

Juba, South Sudan,

May 12, 2022 — South Sudan President, Salva Kiir Mayardit, has summoned the Minister of Finance and Planning, Hon. Agak Achuil Lual and the Governor of the Central Bank,  Moses Makur Deng, to clarify on some of the recent statements by the Minister of Finance and the status of the economy in the country.

According to the Presidential Press Unit, president Kiir summoned the two politicians on Wednesday to explain to him the status of the economy and the utilization of oil proceeds.

“.. His Excellency Salva Kiir Mayardit, President of the Republic has today (Wednesday, 11th May 2022), summoned the Minister of Finance and Planning Hon. Agak Achuil Lual and the Governor of the Bank of South Sudan Hon. Moses Makur Deng for a meeting to update him on the status of economic reforms in the Country and the utilisation of the oil proceeds”, Presidential Press Unit reads.

Speaking to the media after the meeting, Finance Minister Agak Achuil Lual clarified his recent statement saying that he was misquoted.

The minister came out from J1 saying that he was previously misquoted and he wished to clarify his statement that South Sudan oil has not been presold till 2027.

Achuil further explained that what he meant was the crude(oil) spreadsheet and commitments on the developmental projects were spreaded out until 2027, and it doesn’t mean that South Sudan oil has been sold out.

“.. The Minister of Finance and Planning has assured the Country that the oil of South Sudan is still under the ground and actually the Government is working hard to increase the oil production”,the statement added.

According to the Presidential Press Statement, Agak Achuil Lual and Moses Makur further briefed President Salva Kiir Mayardit on their recent mission to Washington DC where they held meetings with IMF and World Bank, and mentioned that the IMF is waiting for the audit report to released more money for the Country.

“.. Hon. Agak Achuil expressed that IMF and World bank are grateful and commended the progress made to reform the economy”,the statement stressed.