South Sudan's central bank increases foreign exchange injection to stabilize economy

South Sudan's central bank said that it would inject 8 million U.S. dollars, an increase from the previous 5 million dollars, into the economy on a weekly basis in order to strengthen the local pound against the dollar, Trend^[1] reports citing Xinhua^[2].

Dier Tong Ngor, governor of the Bank of South Sudan (BOSS), said the central bank would auction 5 million dollars to commercial banks and 3 million dollars to forex bureaus in order to mop up excess liquidity that has seen recently the South Sudanese Pound (SSP) lose value against the dollar.

"We have decided that we will start immediately from next week to increase the amount that we are auctioning. First, we are going to increase the auction that we give to the banks from 3 million to 5 million dollars and also the auction to forex bureaus will increase from 2 million to 3 million dollars every week," Ngor told journalists in Juba.

The SSP is currently exchanging at 50 SSP with the dollar on the black market from the previous 43 since April when the central bank auctioned 5 million dollars to both commercial banks and forex bureaus.

Ngor disclosed that the ministry of finance has been paying salaries on a regular basis, including arrears thus leading to excess liquidity in the market, adding that the decision by the ministry of finance to end deficit-financing has helped the economy to stabilize.

References

1. ^{^} Trend (Trend.az)
2. ^{^} Xinhua (www.xinhuanet.com)