The transitional parliament in South Sudan has passed a bill that would replace the current currency, the South Sudanese Pound with a new currency to be called the South Sudan Pound. The bill, known as Banking and Other Financial Institutions Bill 2023 was passed on Monday and presented by the chairperson of the Parliamentary Committee on Finance and Economic Planning, Changkuoth Bichiok Reth.

According to Changkuoth, the change is necessary to assert South Sudan’s sovereignty and to create a currency that is unique to the country. He said, “In all countries, the money belongs to the country and is named after the country which people belong to, so the money should be called the South Sudan Pound”. 

On the point that Changkuoth made, the Deputy Governor of the Central Bank, Addis Ababa Othwo agreed with him, saying the change is in line with international best practices. “The practice in the region when it comes to currency is to name the currency after the country,” he remarked. He further noted, “In Kenya, they call it Kenya Shillings and in Uganda, they call it Uganda Shillings that is why we are changing it from South Sudanese Pounds to South Sudan Pounds.”

Some MPs, however, opposed the modification, saying it was unnecessary and might cause confusion. Although, Charles Majak, a representative for Warrap State in the parliament and a member of the ruling SPLM was not in agreement with the notion as he said the currency belongs to the people, not the nation, 

“When this bill was brought for the second reading I objected to the amendment of the South Sudanese Pound to the South Sudan Pound and I said this word Sudanese is used for possession because money is a medium of exchange otherwise, we have what we call barter trade,” he said.

“It is the people who possess those resources in the form of money. Why would you delete Sudanese and put Sudan? South Sudan does not own the resources, it is the people who own the resources, and they are living within the international border in a place called South Sudan,” he added.

The Bank of South Sudan has not yet announced a timeline for the introduction of the new currency, but despite the objections, the bill is anticipated to pass through Parliament and become law in the coming weeks. The change in currency comes as South Sudan is dealing with a number of economic difficulties, including high inflation, a shortage of foreign currency, and widespread corruption. 

The country is also attempting to recover from a deadly civil war that caused millions of people to flee their homes. However, some analysts have cautioned that the adoption of a new currency could further destabilize the economy and raise prices, while others contend that the shift is required to reestablish public confidence in the government and lay the groundwork for economic revival.