Economic Crisis Deepens in South Sudan Amid Pipeline Rupture and Salary Delays
The recent rupture of a critical oil pipeline has exacerbated the economic woes of South Sudan, where even the security forces have not received salaries for nine months. As a result, some soldiers and civil servants have turned to side jobs or abandoned their positions altogether.
South Sudan’s economy is heavily reliant on oil exports through neighboring Sudan. However, the ongoing conflict in Sudan has led to widespread chaos, and the pipeline, located in an area of intense fighting, ruptured in February. The resulting decline in oil revenues has intensified South Sudan’s long-standing issues with official mismanagement.
Protests have erupted in the capital, Juba, over the lack of salary payments, with more expected in the coming days. Citizens are under increasing pressure to find alternative ways to bridge the gap in their income.
In Juba, Maburuk Kuyu Surur, a deputy headteacher who has been teaching for 36 years, expressed his frustration with the unprecedented salary delays. “We are suffering,” the 60-year-old said. Surur mentioned that he and other teachers have resorted to collecting small amounts of money from students’ families to support themselves, despite education being free.
President Salva Kiir’s government, which has faced international pressure to prepare for delayed elections, is struggling amidst the economic crisis. The finance ministry has seen six different ministers since 2020, with the latest dismissed in July.
In recent weeks, an investigation by The Associated Press found government ministries and other offices in Juba largely empty during working hours. Employees who remain reported that many of their colleagues have left after growing weary of working without pay since October.
One government worker, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation, disclosed that her salary — when it arrived — was equivalent to $8 a month. She has since taken up work at a restaurant, where she earns about $20. “Prices keep rising every day,” she said, noting that a 50-kilogram bag of maize flour now costs five times more than it did a year ago.
According to the World Bank, inflation in South Sudan has surged to 35% year-over-year, and the local currency has significantly depreciated against the U.S. dollar on both the black market and official exchanges.
Despite a third of South Sudan’s oil continuing to flow for export through another pipeline, President Kiir has openly criticized the mismanagement of resources. With the government increasingly dependent on non-oil revenue, such as taxes on imported goods, the president has acknowledged that these revenues should be sufficient to cover salaries. However, he admitted in July that the funds were not reaching government accounts. “We have nine solid months people have not received their salaries, and we have money,” he stated after swearing in the latest finance minister. Kiir instructed the minister to consolidate all revenues into a single account and to address corruption in revenue collection.
Boboya James, Chief Executive Officer of the Juba-based Institute of Social Policy and Research, pointed out that the shrinking public finances are a result of poor policies and corruption, which have deprived the young nation of much-needed development funds.
While some international support remains, such as a $46.2 million agreement between the African Development Bank and South Sudan’s government to support agricultural production through December 2030, frustration is growing among international partners who once supported South Sudan’s independence. Despite the end of civil war years ago, intercommunal violence persists, and elections scheduled for last year have been postponed to December, with the United Nations warning that the necessary preparations are still incomplete.
Widespread displacement and poverty continue to plague the landlocked country, with the U.N. reporting that 75% of the population relies on humanitarian aid. South Sudan is exploring ways to diversify its economy, including tourism and fruit and vegetable farming, but its civil servants and security forces are showing signs of exhaustion.
In May, the foreign ministry revealed that diplomats and staff in South Sudan’s foreign missions had not received their salaries since 2019, relying instead on support from friends and loved ones. In June, a senior South Sudanese diplomat at the embassy in Rome was seen crying in a video posted online after being evicted from his apartment for failing to pay rent.
At home, hundreds of university lecturers and other workers have protested in Juba over the lack of pay, with security forces opting not to intervene. Some security personnel are quietly leaving their posts in search of other means of survival. “I have decided to desert my government job and become a charcoal broker,” Akol Deng, a member of the armed forces, told the AP, explaining that he now supplies charcoal to local restaurants and residential areas.
(AP)
