Can South Sudan Survive Another Year of the Civil War?

[Elisabeth Janaina]

Can South Sudan Survive Another Year of the Civil War?
Mar. 03 Featured, Uncategorized 4 comments
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By: Chap Phan, Masters in Economics, Business Analysts, MAR/03/20117, SSN;

Many people, including myself, have expressed concerns many times for
Juba regime’s inability to bring peace and show leadership in ending
the civil war. The regime has chosen to fight against the people with
no victory in sight. War has spread to the wider country since the
second outbreak at the presidential palace in July 2016.

It is not only Upper Nile region that has a raging war, but Eastern
and Central Equatorial states as well, and part of Western Bahr al
Ghazal. As reported by many sources, human rights violations have been
recorded on daily basis.

The regime deployed tactics that overwhelmingly target civilians all
around South Sudan including U.N protective sites. Externally
displaced people have surpassed 1.5 million with additional 2 million
people internally displaced (UN Report, 2017).

The daily human rights abuses by the regime, the displacement of the
citizens into refugee camps, the kidnapping of the opposition leaders,
the silencing of the press; the killings of journalists are clear
evidence of power monopoly and true colors of a repressive regime.

Tri-factor
South Sudan is destroying itself day by day; many people are convinced
that South Sudan will go bankrupt unless this senseless war ends. The
war has put South Sudan’s economy in repetitive crisis, interlocking
problems that required long term strategy.

Running large budget deficits, depleting foreign reserves and printing
money to pay for civil war will always lead to economic crisis. Large
budget deficits increase cost of borrowing and put the country at high
risk in market place, which makes borrowing difficult.

Depleting foreign reserves devalue local currency, which make it
expensive for import items. And for South Sudan which depends on
imported items it means less buying power for South Sudanese.

Printing money creates hyperinflation and hyperinflation undermines
purchasing power. In the long run, high inflation discourages capital
formation and distorts investment in financial sector, it undermine
long term economic growth. These kinds of policies ultimately fail
because they are not sustainable, they weaken government and the
economy.

For example, shortages of foreign currency and accelerating inflation
rate forced South Sudanese government to abandon the peg against the
US dollar in December 2015. Since then both inflation and exchange
rate have continued to accelerate. (Refer to figure 1.1 and figure
2.1.)

The pound has deeply depreciated against US dollar by over 90 percent
since the crisis begun. South Sudan inflation peaked at 835 percent in
October driven mostly by rises in food prices. All of this means that
average South Sudanese wealth has eroded and poverty rate has
increased.

Many South Sudanese are poorer than they were in 2013 with debt on
their backs. According to the data from International Monetary fund
(IMF), real income has declined by over 70 percent since 2011.

(Figure 1.1 Sources: Data from Bloomberg, domestic authorities and the
World Bank.)
(Figure 2.1 Sources: Data from Bloomberg, domestic authorities and the
World Bank.)

South Sudan is mortgaged out
The war has ruined the economy, not only in the near term, but also
for decades to come. According to the data from International Monetary
fund (IMF), debt to gross domestic product (GDP) ratios increased to
64 percent in 2015. By the end of the fiscal year, June 2017, South
Sudan debt to GDP ratio is projected to top 91 percent, and it is
projected to be 118 percent by the end of 2017 calendar year. (Refer
to figure 3.1.)

The government relied on expensive loans to cover expenditures most of
which went to military spending. Financing war through debt is poor
strategy that has long term consequences.

High levels of government debt undermine future economic growth. High
levels of government debt mean more government revenues must go toward
paying interest on the debt. That means fewer revenues for social
projects and investment that would grow the economy.

The risk of South Sudan defaulting on its debt service obligation
increases as long as war rages on. High national debt is grave
national security issue; it has social, economic and political
consequences.

(Figure 3.1 Sources: Data form Bloomberg, domestic authorities and the
World Bank. 2017 debt to GDP ratio is projection.)

It assumes that no changes in term of revenues and oil production
while reflecting increase in interest rate and drop in the GDP. Rising
US interest rate means that global investors will likely demand even
higher returns for investment in South Sudan given elevated political
risk.

South Sudan can work with IMF and the World Bank to boost confidence
and have access to discounted financing options, but only if the
country genuinely ends war and takes strong economic reforms.

Sources of Revenues
South Sudan government main sources of revenues are derived from oil;
about 95 percent of government revenues. Mismanagement and conflict
have cut oil production from 350,000 barrels a day in 2011 to 130,000
barrels a day in 2016 (Reuters 2017).

Decline in the world crude oil prices and high fixed transit cost for
using North Sudan pipelines means that South Sudan is getting less
than 10 dollar per barrel on average and some of the money goes toward
paying interest on the existing loans.

Because of the conflict, Juba lost most of financial aid it receives
from development partners and friendly nations, it’s lost an estimated
100 million in remittances from South Sudanese overseas as well. Juba
regime has largely coverd its operational expenses through borrowing
on oil future revenues.

South Sudan needs inclusive peace to prevail.
South Sudan should do all possible to bring inclusive peace. The
regime needs to end war and come up with strategy to prevent conflict
and foster political inclusion. Peaceful resolution would immediately
increase economic activities and increase oil production while opening
up country for foreign direct investment that is desperately needed.

This would allow South Sudan to focus on equitable development where
priorities are given to agriculture productivity and non-oil
activities.

First Priorities would include restoring depleted reserves and
focusing public spending away from military spending toward social
sectors and infrastructure project.

For example, South Sudan has high potential in agriculture and
forestry which are highly underdeveloped. This would minimize
incentive for government to print money and give government a
breathing room to balance its budget. It would help dampen inflation
in the long run and give government enough leverage in economic reform
agenda.

Summary.
South Sudan civil war has cost countless lives and the regime has
mortgaged the country out. International community needs to do more to
pressure the government to foster inclusive peace. They can apply
appropriate economic pressure to the government to accept inclusive
peace process that respects basic human rights.

International community should ensure that oil revenues are not used
to fuel the conflict. An inclusive peace is the only path that will
save South Sudan from impending economic collapse. Peace that
addresses the underpinning of the conflict and that provides progress
toward freedom and opportunity.

Chap Phan is Business Analyst; he holds master degree in Economics.
You can follow Chap Phan in social media: pan...@gmail.com. Tweeter
@pandeit1, Blog at Mannaath.com and facebook; Peter pan.

References
African development Bank Report, 2016
Bloomberg News, https://www.bloomberg.com/quote/SSP:CUR
IMF World Economic Outlook, April 2016
Trandingeconomics, http://www.tradingeconomics.com/south-sudan/inflation
UN Report, 2017
World Bank, 2017, http://www.worldbank.org/en/country/southsudan
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4 Comments

Deng Monymor
March 4, 2017 at 12:51 am

Chap,

If you quote IMF, World bank, African DB, and Tradingeconomic
Outlook as your sources for understanding what is going on in South
Sudan, I am sorry to say you are as illiterate as my grandmother,
despite the fact that she thinks better than you do. To understand the
problem facing South Sudan’s Economy, one has to look at what caused
Congo’s problem during Patrice Lumumba or Ghana during Kwame Nkrumah.
Escapegoating around will not solve anything, let get real.
Reply
mx
March 4, 2017 at 9:37 pm

unless you don’t understand what the article was all about.
Reply
King Logunu The Second
March 5, 2017 at 12:47 pm

Dear Chap Phan,

Thank you very much for providing the forum with a good insight
into the gravity of the problems facing our Economy. I also appreciate
your valuable suggestions in the way of seeking remedies.
Unfortunately, your expert advices would most likely fall on deaf
ears.
Reply
Roberto Kasongo
March 6, 2017 at 8:00 am

Chao Phan,
South Sudan does not have an economy. Even if it has, the economy
is not the main reason citizens are suffering in South Sudan. The core
issue in South Sudan is that Kiir and his ethnic group think the
country belong to them. Non Dinka do not have any rights. There will
be no peace, economy until we ( Non Dinka ) resolve this issue. You
have outlined how to tackle economics issues but Kiir and his useless
followers do not understand anything about the economy. For example,
they have good number of cattle. They can industrialized it. They
could have at least two industries beef and dairy. This will give them
food security.

Roberto Kasongo ( Bana Equatoria )