As South Sudan starts the new 2024/2025 fiscal year budget on the 1 July, a member of the National Legislator has raised concerns over the delay by the national finance ministry in tabling the budget.
Juol Nhomngek Daniel, of the SPLM-IO who represents Cueibet County in Lakes State in the TNLA, on Monday questioned the fate of the budget.
“We are operating according to the law of this House where we have the Conduct of Business regulations as the constitution of this house and mandated by the constitution of South Sudan. Whenever we are operating, we must always mention the period we have overlapped,” he said. “According to our regulations, the financial year began today (Monday) and the budget is not even in place. We would like to know what the statement on this by the minister of finance is. We should be informed so that we resolve to postpone the budget. We cannot operate as if it is normal.”
According to the lawmaker, all countries in the East African region have tabled their budgets.
“All East African countries have already made their budgets so we need to know the fate of the budget of our country for fiscal year 2024/2025,” Nhomngek said.
This comes one day after the Ministry of Finance and Planning suspended payments to government spending agencies as the fiscal year 2023/2024 came to a close on Sunday.
According to the ministry, it will not process new claims until the 2024/2025 budget is passed by the TNLA and receives legal assent. Meanwhile, South Sudan lags behind its East African Community (EAC) partners—Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and Burundi—who have already presented their annual budgets, adhering to an established regional tradition.
The country faces severe inflation, aggravated by the weakening of the local currency against the U.S. dollar. The crisis was further compounded when a major oil pipeline, responsible for transporting 60 percent of crude oil to Port Sudan, suffered a breakdown in February 2024. Families are now struggling to afford necessities due to the sharp increase in prices.