Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent steps she has taken to support South Sudan with the implementation of (a) public finance and (b) anti-corruption measures in the peace deal signed in South Sudan in 2018.

Poor Public Financial Management (PFM) and corruption are major concerns in South Sudan, depriving ordinary citizens of basic services from their government and the benefits of economic growth. We welcome the commitments made in the 2018 Peace Agreement to improvements in this area, but implementation remains significantly delayed. British Embassy staff in Juba regularly engage with South Sudanese Ministers and officials on PFM and anti-corruption issues. This includes the Ministry of Finance, Financial Intelligence Unit and the National Multi-Disciplinary Committee on Money Laundering. We have also encouraged the International Monetary Fund and World Bank to support South Sudan with financial management and transparency programmes.

The UK Ambassador to South Sudan is currently co-chair of the Public Financial Management Oversight Committee, alongside the South Sudanese Minister of Finance. This mechanism, that we helped instigate to coordinate action on reforms, has supported progress such as the adoption by South Sudan of a plan for reforms, the establishment of a Cash Management Unit, and exchange rate reform that has helped food prices in South Sudan to drop despite increases in global prices. While these reforms are encouraging, we will, with our international partners, continue to press for further progress.