South Sudan Sees FDI Rising to $1 Billion as Crisis Recedes

Young men gather beside a herd of cows at a cattle camp in Udier, South Sudan. Photographer: Simon Maina/AFP via Getty Images

Ten months of relative peace in South Sudan has triggered a rush of investment, raising inflows four-fold this fiscal year to an expected $1 billion.

Foreign direct investment for the nation that’s been in the throes of civil war was about $250 million in 2016-17, according to South Sudan Investment Authority’s secretary-general, Abraham Maliet Mamer. Statistics for 2017-18 are still being compiled.

“I am optimistic in 2019-2020 we will go beyond $1 billion if this peace prevails,” Mamer said in an interview in the capital, Juba, on Friday.

The government will neither block dividend repatriation nor demand guarantee payments, investors will be entitled to five-year tax holidays and reinvested profits will be entitled to discounts, he said.

As investors return, the agency will demand that they all register for investment certificates to retain legitimacy, Mamer said, noting that long-established companies including the local units of MTN and Zain Group were operating illegally.

Emails and telephone calls to Zain representatives seeking comment were not responded to. MTN’s South Sudan head of corporate services, Khumbulani Dhlomo, said the company has a license and pays taxes.

“Zain has not registered with us, what right do they have to take their money out? MTN has not registered with us, what right do they have to repatriate their money? They can’t,” Mamer said.