NEWS

By. Joss Chol Dut

24^th October 2023-Juba, The World Bank team headed by Dr. Firas Raad, country manager for South Sudan and his senior operations Manager Mrs. Zewditu Haile paid courtesy visit to the newly appointed Hon. Governor James Alic Garang in his office on Tuesday. 

The team discussed with the governor areas of working with South Sudan to develop a Country Partnership Framework (CPF), which will guide the Bank’s support to the country over the next several years.   

The World Bank team met with several public officials, including the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, the Governor of the Central Bank, and the First Deputy Governor of the Central Bank. The discussions focused on the government’s priorities for the coming year and how the World Bank can be more supportive to the government’s development goals. 

The CPF is a platform for the Government of South Sudan, which the World Bank supports as the work together in identifying the country’s most important developmental challenges, opportunities and develop a plan to address them. 

The World Bank has been working with South Sudan in several areas, including Education, Health, and Resilience in addition to supporting the government’s efforts in building the capacity of local institutions. 

Key Areas of Support 

The government of South Sudan has identified the following key areas where the World Bank’s support is much needed as follows: 

1. Building foundation for financial growth. 

2. Connecting roads. 

3. Addressing the risks of climate change in the financial sector. 

4. Institutional capacity building, particularly, the bureau of statistics and the central bank. 

5. Supporting youth and women. 

6. Providing microfinance loans. 

7. Increasing financial literacy and Agriculture Bank, The Agriculture Bank of South Sudan is facing challenges. The World Bank is willing to provide support in this area.