The South Sudan government has suspended the implementation of the new high work permit fees for foreign workers, and in addition abandoned the plans to increase aviation fees as well, Xinhua reports
In an effort to fight economic crisis in the country, South Sudan increased work permit to 10,000 US dollars from 400 USD for professional/business class, 2,000 dollars for blue collar jobs and 1,000 dollars for casual laborers.
The suspension comes after an outcry from humanitarian agencies who claimed the increment was a way of restricting work of foreign aid workers in the war-torn nation.
The East African nation’s government will seek to review the county’s financial laws and moderate the fee with the East African region during the suspension, according to the Finance Minister Stephen Dhieu Dau, who also added that the permit fees will not go beyond 5,000 US dollars.
“What we are doing should be consistent with the region. So we should not be seen collecting less or imposing higher,” S. Sudan’s Finance minister Stephen Dhieu Dau told reporters
The minister added that the government will also consider reducing taxes on pharmaceutical products from the current 5 percent to 2 percent and agricultural inputs from 10 percent to 5 percent in a bid to reduce prices of medicine and food.
South Sudan is currently struggling with hyperinflation amid shortage of foreign reserves to support imports.
South Sudan 98 percent of its budget is financed by oil revenue, but civil conflicts since 2013 have caused most oilfields in the country’s northern Upper Nile region to shut down as production fell to below 130,000 barrels per day (bpd) from 350,000 bpd.
