The chairperson of parliament’s Finance and Planning Committee has raised concerns over the allocation of 842.4 billion pounds — 9% of the proposed 2025/26 national budget — for public debt servicing, saying the government has not disclosed the country’s total public debt or how the loans were used.
Michael Ayuen spoke on Wednesday during the second reading of the 2025/26 fiscal year budget, telling lawmakers that the lack of transparency surrounding public debt was troubling.
“On public debt servicing in the fiscal year 2025-2026 national budget, the minister of finance and planning allocated 842.4 billion pounds, which is 9% of the total budget, to fund debt repayment,” Ayuen said.
He said the minister did not clearly state the country’s total debt stock or the purpose for which the loans were acquired.
“The minister of finance and planning did not clearly state in his speech before the August House the total public debt and the purpose for which it was acquired. This is alarming,” Ayuen said.
He warned that the situation could negatively affect the country’s finances and overall resource envelope.
The committee urged the minister to provide full disclosure of all loans and related resources to enable parliament to exercise effective oversight.
“We urge the minister of finance and planning to table before the August House the details of the loans and the resources,” Ayuen said.
Beyond debt transparency, the committee also highlighted irregularities in the implementation of the 2024/25 fiscal year budget.
Turning to expenditure patterns, Ayuen said the committee scrutinized and analyzed the performance of each spending agency during the 2024/25 fiscal year.
According to the report, several government institutions breached the Public Finance Management Act through excessive spending, while others used only a fraction of their approved allocations.
“In the committee’s analysis, we established that some spending agencies greatly overspent their budgets, breaching the Public Finance Management Act, while others significantly underspent,” Ayuen said.
The report said the Ministry of Petroleum overspent its budget by 13,000%, the Ministry of Roads and Bridges by 7,000% and the Ministry of Presidential Affairs by 5,000%. The Financial Intelligence Unit overspent by 2,841%, while the National Security Service exceeded its allocation by 1,000%.
At the same time, several institutions recorded very low absorption rates. The National Election Commission spent 0.2% of its allocation, the National Bureau of Statistics 0.5%, the National Constitution Review Commission 0.6%, the South Sudan Medical Commission 0.7% and the Ministry of Environment and Forestry 2%.