Overview

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Context
Strategy
Results
Partners

The Republic of South Sudan became the world’s newest nation and Africa’s 55th country on July 9, 2011.
The renewed conflicts in December 2013 and July 2016 have undermined the development gains achieved since independence and worsened the humanitarian situation. The conflict is estimated to have led to nearly four hundred thousand excess deaths since 2013 and more than 4.3 million people have been displaced both internally and to neighboring countries. The latest UN updates suggest that about seven million (more than half the population) were assessed to be severely food insecure between May and September 2018.
South Sudan is the most oil-dependent country in the world, with oil accounting for almost the totality of exports, and around 60% of its gross domestic product (GDP). The country’s GDP per capita in 2014 was $1,111 dropping to less than $200 in 2017. Outside the oil sector, livelihoods are concentrated in low productive, unpaid agriculture and pastoralists work.
South Sudan’s economic collapse continues, with output contracting, and inflation and parallel exchange market premium soaring. Monetization of the fiscal deficit led to strong money growth and high inflation, although there are indications that borrowing from the Bank of South Sudan had recently been limited. The year-on-year annual Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased by 88.5% between June 2017 and June 2018. The spread between the official and the parallel market exchange rates remains wide (44% in July 2018), despite the recent exchange rate appreciation.
The fiscal deficit is projected at about 4.4% of GDP in FY2018 due to falling government revenues and rising security-related spending. Expenditures continue to be skewed toward defense at the expense of poverty reduction. Security and accountability/public administration and rule of law spending have accounted for over 70% of the total budget over the past three fiscal years. By contrast, combined expenditures on health and education are estimated to make up around 6% of total government spending.
The Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCISS), signed by the government, the opposition and civil society on September 12, 2018 in Addis Ababa is seen as a fresh opportunity for South Sudanese to build durable peace in the country. As a result, the government expects to resume full oil production of 350,000 barrels per day by mid-2019, as production has recently been restarted in the five oil fields that have been shut down since the conflict started in December 2013. Furthermore, South Sudan and Sudan have reached a new deal on oil transit fees whereby South Sudan will pay $4 per barrel, down from $9.1 per barrel under the terms of an agreement signed in September 2012 when international oil prices were very high.
The main challenge going forward is to ensure all parties to the conflict remain committed to implement the new peace agreement. Subsequently, the government will be expected to the tackle the underlying causes of the country’s current macroeconomic crisis, improve food production, boost employment, build infrastructure and diversify the economy, among many other priorities to address.

Last Updated: Oct 12, 2018
The World Bank has been engaged since the conclusion of the North-South Agreement in 2005 and the creation of the autonomous government. After independence, in April 2012, South Sudan became a member of the World Bank Group (the World Bank) and an Interim Strategy Note (ISN) was endorsed by the Board to cover the years FY2013-14. The resumption of conflict, however, was a critical setback to the country program in particular, and for development in general.
Following the signing of a peace agreement and the formation of the Transitional Unity Government in 2015 aiming at ending the 2013 internal conflict, the World Bank started preparing a Country Engagement Note (CEN) to guide its intervention in the country over a period of 24 months (FY2018-19). While the resumption of conflict in July 2016 delayed its preparation, the CEN was finalized and endorsed by the Board of Executive Directors on January 16, 2018.
The CEN was informed by the findings of a Systematic Country Diagnostic (October 2015) which identified the key constraints and opportunities facing the country in achieving adequate progress toward the World Bank Group’s twin goals of ending extreme poverty and promoting shared prosperity in a sustainable way. Its design involved extensive consultations with key stakeholders and took into consideration the comparative advantage of World Bank engagement in South Sudan.

Last Updated: Oct 12, 2018
As of September 2018, the World Bank active portfolio in South Sudan stands at $233m, covering five national International Development Association (IDA) operations with an undisbursed balance of $36.59m (15.7%). South Sudan’s indicative IDA18 allocation is $243m, of which $225m (92.5%) is on track to be committed by end FY19.
The portfolio also supports a wide range of Analytic and Advisory Services (ASA) to obtain reliable data on the country context and ensure World Bank programming decisions remain fit for purpose.
Key achievements in South Sudan from 2008 include:
Ensuring Food Security and Nutrition through Innovation
Since 2009, the Bank has invested $79.43 million in two projects to respond to the need to boost production and restore agriculture livelihoods while remaining flexible enough to respond to food security emergencies.
The Emergency Food Crisis Response Project introduced new seeds technologies which enabled over 229,000 farmers to increase productivity. Additionally, the adoption of post-harvest technology helped 125,211 farmers to convert over 104,740 hectares of idle land into productive land.
Following the declaration of drought and famine in 2017, the Emergency Food and Nutrition Project, ensured food security for over 210,000 most vulnerable South Sudanese residing in primarily conflict-affected and inaccessible areas by distributing 4,461 tons of food.
Through the provision of supplementary feeding and treatment for malnutrition, the project also ensured the nutritional needs of over 43,000 children and 2,260 pregnant and lactating women are met.
Providing Social Protection
The Safety Net and Skills Development project provided over 85,000 poor and vulnerable people with income they need to sustain their level of consumption and improve their resilience to economic shocks.
The public works component under the project helped to build/rehabilitate key community assets identified as priorities by communities (roads, drainage structures, etc.) and led to increased access to services and mobility.
Most importantly, public engagement in public works has provided a platform for greater interaction and social dialogue, contributing to local-level peace building and stabilization by creating a sense of unity and social cohesion among diverse ethnic groups.
Linking development with conflict resolution
The Local Governance and Service Delivery Project is reducing violence and loss of life by promoting conflict resolution. 250 sub-projects worth US$8.8 million in the health, water, and education sectors completed, reaching about 445,997 direct beneficiaries (47% were women).
Using a community development approach, the project encourages community participation in local government planning and implementation. They also identify their priorities for security and development
The Local Governance program typically kicks-off with events where communities analyze the roots of their conflicts, and identify their local resources, before prioritizing their development needs. The recurrence of communal conflict in South Sudan makes conflict mapping essential to local government planning.
Increasing connectivity and reducing travel time
The South Sudan Rural Roads Project provided 43,000 people in rural areas with access to all-season roads and reduced travel time by half (three to 1.5 minutes per kilometer). In addition, it connected 38 agricultural production centers to all-season roads; benefiting 71,290 people.

Last Updated: Oct 12, 2018
Development partners have played a major role in South Sudan over the past seven years. Their commitments have totaled about $4.5 billion, excluding $4 billion in contributions to United Nations Mission in the Sudan (UNMISS) peacekeeping for the same period. Funding modalities have varied, with 19% of donor funding allocated to pooled funds through 2011. The World Bank Group (WBG) has been working closely with development partners through the WBG-administered Multi-Donor Trust Fund – South Sudan (MDTF-SS), the largest of five pooled funds.
With the closing of the MDTF-SS in 2013 and following two conflict outbreaks in December 2013 and July 2016, the World Bank developed flexible and innovative programs to respond to a protracted humanitarian crisis to prevent complete a deterioration of livelihoods and maintain essential services for the people of South Sudan, by identifying and targeting those most in need. A bulk of the Bank’s support is currently delivered in partnership with UN agencies and international organisations with extensive presence across the country.
World Bank is also an active member of the Partnership for Recovery and Resilience (PfRR) in South Sudan and intends to contribute towards re-establishing delivery of basic services and restore productive capacities of communities affected by the South Sudan conflict.

Last Updated: Oct 12, 2018