South Sudan tests cashless pay to civil servants

A motorist changes money from a boy in Juba, South Sudan

A motorist changes money from a boy at a market in Juba, South Sudan. The country is taking steps to promote a “cashless economy”. File

South Sudan is encouraging civil servants to take their pay electronically, testing a new move that could also challenge the country’s available infrastructure for a cashless economy.

The proposal had been mooted two months ago, but officials this week formally released a circular asking that transactions such as salaries for civil servants and payments into departmental vote heads be done cashless.