JUBA, South Sudan
South Sudan's President Salva Kiir has sacked central bank governor Johnny Ohisa Damian and other senior finance officials, state television announced, the second time he has removed a central bank chief in just over a year.
The announcement made late on
Monday did not give a reason why Kiir was removing Damian and appointing James
Alic Garang, an advisor to the International Monetary Fund, in his place.
Kiir also replaced the central
bank's two deputy governors, the head of the government's revenue authority and
other senior officials in the finance and trade ministries.
Abrupt changes to the
leadership of the central bank and finance ministry have been frequent in
recent years and in 2020 alone the central bank governor was replaced twice.
Damian only took up the
position in August
2022 after Moses Makur Deng was removed from the role.
South Sudan's economy has been
depressed since a civil war that erupted in 2013, forcing about a quarter of
its population to flee to neighbouring countries.
The war cut oil production,
the mainstay of economic activity. While crude output has improved in recent
years, it is yet to reach levels seen before the war.
Production in other sectors like agriculture has also plummeted, while in 2020 the double blow of the COVID-19 pandemic and plunging oil prices added to South Sudan's woes.
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