South Sudan- South Sudan’s government has said it cannot pay salaries for its staff nationally because all revenues received from oil will be used to repay loans borrowed after the oil shutdown.

The Minister of Finance Hon. Aggrey Tisa Sabuni who disclosed this to newsmen last Wednesday stated that government is currently paying $4.5 billion borrowed loan mainly from oil operating companies in the country hence its delay to pay its staff for closely two months now.

 He noted that the domestic borrowing to the tune of $4.5 billion must again be paid out of domestic collections, non oil revenue as well as oil revenue adding that the foreign borrowing was denominated on the sale of South Sudanese oil with the revenue going directly to the oil companies that lend the loans.

South Sudan early last year shutdown its oil production when it accused Khartoum of looting the resource. Oil revenues contribute to over 90% of the country’s annual budget.

Government was then forced to announce austerity measures in an effort to cost-effective utilize the little resources it had then.