South Sudan has declared 2021 as a year for foreign investment in the world’s youngest country by launching a plan to woo investors into the east African country.
South Sudan’s Minister of Investment, Dhieu Mathok, said the government was also reviewing the country’s investment laws to boost investor-confidence in South Sudan.
He said, “We want to invite investors across the globe so that they come to South Sudan and see for themselves the opportunities in the country,” adding: “We have a lot more resources than other countries in the region, but we could not utilise those resources because of the war.”
According to the World Bank, South Sudan is the most oil-dependent country in the world, with oil accounting for around 60 per cent of its Gross Domestic Product.
But more than six years of civil war has shattered the young country’s economic prospects.
South Sudan’s oil production fell from 350,000 barrels per day (bpd) in 2011 to less than 130,000bpd in 2014 amid soaring inflation and economic crunch.
Even after signing a peace agreement in September 2018, the country’s economy has failed to recover from the effects of war as current daily oil output remains below 200,000bpd amid drop in global oil prices and the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
“We believe that this is the best time to announce the investment year.
“Now we have peace in the country and the environment is conducive to doing business in our country,” Mathok stated.
South Sudan is also home to more than 30 million livestock such as cattle, goats, and sheep.
According to the minister, the government plans to map out the country’s resources and also hold an investment conference in 2021 to market South Sudan’s investment opportunities to the world.