News & Analysis: South Sudan
““I am happy to inform you that we have met all the requirements and have received information from COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (Covax) that 864,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine have been allocated to South Sudan.”
“With the existence of a good cold chain and expertise to maintain it as well as administer the vaccine, Western Equatoria State is well positioned to successfully roll-out of the COVID-19 vaccination campaigns once the vaccine becomes available in South Sudan.”
“East African Community members states are expected to receive some 39 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine from the African Union (AU), which has secured a deal to procure 270 million of the same for all member states.”
“Death rates represent only a sliver of the pandemic’s unseen impacts on fragile livelihoods, socioeconomically vulnerable groups like migrants and women, and other efforts at democratisation in the Horn.”
“The COVID-19 pandemic has fueled a 40% increase in the number of people needing humanitarian assistance around the globe, the United Nations said… as it appealed for roughly $35 billion to help many of those expected to be in need next year.”
“The pandemic and resulting crisis threaten to reverse some of the region’s development gains of the last decade and challenge progress to the SDGs.”
“South Sudan’s economy is dead on its feet. Falling oil prices have squeezed government revenues, sending hard currency reserves tumbling and inflation soaring. Political stability may now rest on the ability of leaders to maintain discipline in their ranks and confidence in each other, as the financial bargain at the heart of the 2018 peace agreement comes under pressure.”
“The International Monetary Fund granted the Republic of South Sudan a $52 million emergency disbursement under the Rapid Credit Facility to help its economy weather the shock of the COVID-19 pandemic. This is the first time this new and still fragile country has received financial support from the IMF.”
“The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) today approved a disbursement of SDR 36.9 million (about US$52.3 million or 15 percent of its SDR quota) to South Sudan under the Rapid Credit Facility (RCF) . This is the first Fund supported financial assistance provided to South Sudan since it joined the Fund in 2012.”
“Before the conflict and COVID-19, South Sudan was drilling more than 250,000 barrels of crude oil per day, which has now dropped to 180,000 barrels per day. In an extraordinary meeting, the Central Bank Monetary Policy Committee made five resolutions aimed at tackling the devaluation of crude oil.”
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