South Sudan: Tight funding could disrupt services finance ministry warns
By Debora Akur Chol, Correspondent of Brounland in South Sudan
The Undersecretary at the Ministry of Finance and Planning has cautioned that failure to carefully allocate limited public funds could lead to serious disruptions in essential services such as health, education, and water.
Speaking during a two-day public hearing on the FY2025/2026 Finance Bill and draft national budget, Benjamin Ayali Koyongwa stressed the urgent need to prioritize scarce resources to sustain critical public services.
“This hearing offers an opportunity to surface urgent and unmet funding needs, especially those affecting service delivery at the sub-national level, such as health, education, water, infrastructure, agriculture, and social protection,” Koyongwa said.
He noted that the country’s fiscal space has continued to shrink over the past year and a half, largely due to declining support from international partners.
“For the last one year and a half or so, there has been a shrinking of fiscal space. The funding that we used to get from partners is not coming,” he explained.
Koyongwa questioned how the government can maximize limited resources without undermining the delivery of basic services.
“Health services must be delivered. People fall sick. Our learners must remain in classrooms. Therefore, it is important for us to work together to ensure that whatever little we have is allocated to these key sectors,” he added.
Earlier this month, Sarah Cleto, Minister of Health, appealed for increased government funding following sharp reductions in donor support for the health sector. The cuts have left 102 health facilities without project assistance.
Cleto revealed that the Ministry currently receives only 1.3 percent of the national budget, while approximately 85 percent of the sector’s funding comes from donors.
She further disclosed that donor withdrawals have significantly affected the Health Sector Transformation Project (HSTP), reducing its original 400 million US dollar budget by nearly half after the United States and Sweden withdrew their support.
