(JUBA, SOUTH SUDAN) – South Sudan’s central bank is holding reserves that have been borrowed by the Ministry of Finance and not returned, a researcher has said, pointing to a key driver of the country’s prolonged liquidity crisis.
Dr Ting Mayai, speaking during an Eye Radio podcast discussion on the cash shortage, said the Bank of South Sudan should hold the reserves but the finance ministry takes the money without repaying it.
“The Central Bank should hold the reserves, but the Ministry of Finance takes the money and does not return it,” Mayai said.
Mayai said he could not speak on behalf of the central bank, as its officials know more about the matter, but noted that reserves were stronger when South Sudan gained independence in 2011. He did not know how much remains today.
He said commercial banks are supposed to keep their reserves at the central bank, but available evidence suggests they are struggling to access their funds.
“The Central Bank has indicated that some of the reserves it holds were borrowed by the Ministry of Finance and have not been repaid,” Mayai said. “These are the facts.”
The researcher’s comments add to a growing body of evidence on the causes of South Sudan’s cash crisis, which has left households unable to withdraw savings, businesses paralysed and public servants unpaid for months.
A policy study presented in October by Dr Augustino T. Mayai, Director General of the National Bureau of Statistics, and Dr Aweng P. Majok, found that central bank overdrafts to the Ministry of Finance reached 410.5 billion South Sudanese pounds by June 2024, while reserve money expanded by 302% against a 10% target .
The study, titled Cash Everywhere, Trust Nowhere: The SSP Liquidity Crisis in South Sudan, linked the crisis to falling oil revenues, government borrowing from the central bank and unpaid public salaries .
South Sudan relies on oil for more than 90% of its revenues, but exports through Port Sudan were interrupted after the pipeline was damaged during Sudan’s civil war in 2023. The economy contracted by an estimated 23.8% in fiscal year 2025 as oil output fell from nearly 160,000 barrels per day to an average of 60,000 during the shutdown .
A separate briefing to parliament in February by Aggrey Tisa Sabuni, Technical Advisor for Revenue Matters, revealed that foreign reserves had fallen to just $74 million, covering a mere two weeks of imports. Sabuni attributed the depletion to an oil for infrastructure arrangement under which private contractors receive crude cargoes directly, meaning dollars no longer flow into the central bank .
Parliamentary research has also identified a deficit of trust between commercial banks and the central bank. Lawmaker Michael Ayuen, chair of the Committee for Finance and Planning, said banks are hesitant to keep reserves with the central bank because their money is exhausted when they need it for business transactions .
President Salva Kiir has repeatedly reshuffled the economic team in response to the crisis, sacking several finance ministers and central bank governors. In July, he swore in Addis Ababa Othow as central bank governor, directing him to fix the cash crunch and restore confidence in the banking system, having been replaced him just a few months earlier.
Mayai’s remarks suggest that resolving the crisis will require not only changes in leadership but also clear rules limiting government borrowing from the central bank and ensuring that reserves held on behalf of commercial banks are accessible when needed.
