Oct 09, 2020(Nyamilepedia) — In attempts to revert a collapsing economy that is characterized by hyper-inflation, South Sudan cabinet has approved a plan to introduce a new currency.
Speaking to the media after a cabinet ministers’ meeting in Juba today, the Minister of Information and Government Spokesman, Hon. Michael Makuei Lueth, said the idea is to get many South Sudanese, who are believed to be keeping their money under their pillows at home into the banks with hopes that such money could be kept in commercial banks and become part of circulation.
The government spokesman said many people could be keeping money at home for fear that their money could be confiscated by the government; however, the Minister could not explain how the government plans to change such a mindset for citizens to keep their money in the banks.
“One of the reports is that most of our citizens are hoarding currency in their houses, and most of them hoard it for so many reasons.” Hon. Michael Makuei said
“There are some who fear if they take their money to the bank, it may be confiscated and so forth. However, this is a normal situation that has been happening and there are always solutions for it,” He continued.
South Sudan cabinet, therefore, decided that the only way to get citizens to take their money to the bank is by changing the currency so that people will have no choice but to take their money to the banks
“So the cabinet has decided that the currency be changed. The currency should be changed so that anybody who does not take his money to the bank, is left out and will lose his money,” Hon. Makuei said..
Although the cabinet did not give specific time frame on how soon the citizens should take their money to the bank, the Minister of information recommends that the sooner the better; otherwise, people will be stuck in long queues if they wait until the last minute.
“Those who are hoarding South Sudanese money in their houses are advised to put it into the banks to avoid queuing up for exchanging the currency,” Makuei said.
It is not clear how the new currency will be designed or called; however, there are speculations that it could be called “South Sudan Shillings”.
