South Sudan’s SSP 1.3 trillion budget finally gets to parliament
The Minister of Finance Agak Achuil Lual on Wednesday tabled the 2022/23 fiscal year budget before parliament amounting to 1.3 trillion South Sudanese Pounds.
Achuil said the budget has a deficit of SSP 560 billion which will be financed through borrowing and other sources.
“The total expenditure proposal for the fiscal year 2022/2023 is SSP 1.3 trillion. Of this amount SSP 198.2 billion goes to wages and salaries, SSP 165.3 billion for the use of goods and services, and SSP 128.9 billion for capital,” Achuil said in Juba.
Achuil disclosed that financial contributions from oil revenue to this year’s budget amounted to 715.7 billion SSP, while non-oil revenue accounted for 513.6 billion SSP.
The budget includes an upward adjustment of 20 percent in the pay scale for all public sector employees.
He revealed that the budget mainly aims to tackle development of roads, infrastructure and also security.
Achuil added that SSP 198.2 billion will cover wages and salaries, and SSP 165.3 billion will be used for the purchase of goods and services.
“SSP 15 billion is allocated for peace implementation and SSP 13.5 billion is contingency,” he said.
In addition, SSP 67.1 billion has been allocated for salary arrears for foreign missions and SSP 41.6 billion to administrative areas.
“We will particularly focus on improving infrastructure to create a more conducive environment for investment and diversification away from oil,” Achuil said.
“While at the same time focus on the social sector in order to mitigate pervasive poverty and embark on the sustainable livelihood of our people,” he added.
Meanwhile, the accountability sector has been allocated SSP 2.3 billion and the economic function sector with SSP 73.1 billion.
The education sector will receive SSP 107.8 billion, health sector with SSP 33.7 billion.
The infrastructure sector is budgeted at SSP 12.5 billion, and the natural resource sector has been allocated SSP 67.3 billion.
The public administration sector has been given SSP 117.3 billion and rule of law sector SSP 31.7 billion respectively.
The security sector is budgeted at SSP 75.3 billion, social and humanitarian affairs will receive SSP 6.1 billion.
