JUBA, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- South Sudan said Friday that it expects badly needed development aid from international community to kick start reconstruction from conflict after warring parties recently concluded the final peace agreement in the Sudanese capital.
Wani Buyu, the undersecretary for planning in the ministry of finance, told journalists that they are currently undertaking key institutional reforms especially in the revenue sector to win back the confidence of investors and development partners who abandoned the country following outbreak of conflict in 2013.
"We expect the development partners to come in, some of them have actually lost confidence in South Sudan because of the war but with the coming of peace I am sure they will have trust in us," Buyu said in Juba.
He disclosed that China and Japan are undertaking key development projects and provision of essential services in the country.
The South Sudanese government recently approved 600 million U.S. dollar 2018/19 budget that will be largely funded by local revenue since development partners were not forthcoming, and payment of salaries of civil servants takes the lion's share of the budget leaving little for capital development.
Buyu said transparency and accountability are crucial for South Sudan to benefit from its massive available resources.
He said the establishment of the national revenue authority and ongoing training of tax officials will help them in their bid to widen the tax base as non-oil revenue has since risen ahead of the previously much depended-upon oil revenue.
"There is a great improvement in non-oil revenue collection because right from Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) until 2011 we were entirely depending on oil revenue but when we shut down oil production in 2012 we realized we have enough resources we can collect from our borders," he said.
The CPA, agreed in 2005 between Sudan and South Sudan, paved way for the independence of the latter from Sudan in 2011, but it came with challenges stemming from weak institutions and corruption.
Meanwhile, Frederick Mugisha, the head of strategy and analysis unit at the UN Development Program (UNDP), said South Sudan needs to diversify its economy away from oil and strengthen the non-oil tax base.
"For a long time South Sudan has focused much on the oil revenue. It is now an opportunity that we are trying to push for the non-oil revenue and revenue authority is an important component for mobilizing of non-oil revenue," he said.
Mugisha also cautioned that South Sudan is a project still in the works and needs time to emerge from conflict and embark on development path.
"If we have not been having non-oil revenue for a long time it will take a while for people to appreciate the value of paying tax and for systems to work to the maximum," he said.
