South Sudan has secured $106
million from the World Bank and the African Development Bank, in
part to pay for food imports as millions face starvation and to
fund the construction of a road to trade partner Kenya, its
finance minister said.
Parts of the war-ravaged country are suffering famine. A
three-year civil war has forced millions from their homes, sent
the oil-producing economy into a tail-spin and devastated crop
harvests, just as the worst drought in years bites.
Finance Minister Stephen Dhieu Dau told Reuters late on
Monday that the government had signed a deal with the World Bank
for a $50 million grant "to meet the food gaps in South Sudan".
Speaking by telephone from Washington where he had been
attending meetings with lenders, the minister said those funds
would be disbursed soon and finance food imports from Tanzania
and Uganda.
Dau said a further $8 million agreed with the World Bank was
earmarked for the construction of a road connecting the capital
Juba to Kenya.
Separately, the African Development Bank will provide loans
and grants worth $48 million to help strengthen the
recession-hit economy, the minister said, without giving
details.
South Sudan, the world's youngest country, descended into
civil war in 2013 after President Salva Kiir fired his deputy,
unleashing a conflict that has spawned a patchwork of armed
factions.
The fighting has hit oil production and food cultivation
amid soaring inflation. The IMF says the economy shrunk by
almost 20 per cent in the two years through to 2015/16, and
forecasts a 3.5 per cent contraction this year.
