South Sudan to secure $112.7M emergency funding from IMF

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff team has reached an agreement with South Sudan for emergency funding to the tune of $112.7 million.

The funding which is still subject to approval by the IMF Executive Board will help the East African Community member state address among others, ongoing food insecurity.

“These resources will be used predominantly to help address food insecurity, support social spending, and boost international reserves,” said IMF.

An estimated 8.3 million people in the country or two-thirds of the population are facing severe food insecurity as a result of continued localized conflict, four consecutive years of severe flooding, and the rising price of staple commodities from Russia’s war in Ukraine.

The emergency financing through the new Food Shock Window of the Rapid Credit Facility (RCF) will further help the South Sudanese government to implement several reforms to strengthen governance and transparency.

Among targeted reforms include publishing budget execution reports; publishing the results of a stock take of South Sudan’s external debt; publishing the Auditor General’s report on the second RCF disbursement and starting to address its findings and recommendations; as well as strengthening the process for contracting external debt and issuing sovereign guarantees.