May 11, 2018 (JUBA) - South Sudan Friday has removed fuel subsidies to ease the state firm’s subsidy burden but the move will add to already high inflation in the troubled country.

A photo showing a long queue at a fuel station in Juba on Saturday Oct. 18, 2014 (Photo ST).

In a briefing to the media following the weekly cabinet meeting, deputy information minister Lily Albino Akol Akol told reporters about the government decision to henceforth stop subsidizing fuel.

According to the decision, the government would no longer allocate funds to the national oil company, Nilepet, to import fuels for sale at a reduced price to the public.

“The first resolution of the Council of Ministers today is lifting fuel subsidies,” said Ms Akol.

“The Council of Ministers noticed and acknowledged that the citizens of South Sudan are indeed suffering, and the fuel subsidy which was meant to alleviate the economic conditions of most of our citizens is not happening,” she adds.

The government, she explained, has now resolved to cut spending on fuel subsidies to allow the use of these funds to meet other obligations, including payment of civil servants’ salaries on time.

The deputy minister said the cut of subsidy starts immediately, as the ministers of finance and petroleum, as well as Nilepet, were directed to start the implementation of the decision taken by the council without delay.

In another separate decision, the cabinet directed the minister of finance to prioritize the payment of civil servants’ arrears.

(ST)