Kiir names former senior official at central bank as new governor
Thursday January 23 2020
South Sudanese President Salva Kiir. The president has appointed a former deputy governor at the central bank as its new governor. FILE PHOTO | AFP
South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir has appointed a former deputy governor at the central bank as its new governor, a government official said.
Jamal Wani Abdalla was appointed after the president sacked incumbent Dier Tong, the president’s spokesman, Ateny Wek Ateny, said late on Wednesday.
South Sudan’s economy is in the doldrums after more than a grinding six-year civil war that led to the fleeing of about a quarter of the country’s population to neighbouring countries.
The war has also squeezed the economy’s mainstay, oil production, to a trickle while output in other sectors like agriculture also plummeted.
“Abdalla has been given the mandate to try to fix the economy,” Ateny told Reuters.
The IMF forecasts South Sudan’s GDP will expand at 8.1 per cent in 2019/20 fiscal year from 3.4 per in 2018/19.