Financial Institutions and
Insurance Policy
Financial institutions and insurance sectors form a major basis for economic growth and development of any economy. Originally, Sudan had institutional mechanisms put in place to develop finance and insurance sectors, such as establishment of national insurance companies like National Insurance Corporation (NIC). On the other hand, national banks included Nile Commercial Bank, Corporative Bank of South Sudan, Ivory Bank and many more that have been destroyed under the poorly managed policy of liberalization mainly because of corruption. These institutions had been put in place to cater for different sectors of the economy. All these institutional mechanisms were destroyed and crippled by the current
government and this partly explains why South Sudan’s finance and insurance sectors are under developed and as such cannot play their role of mobilization and allocation of resources to support rapid economic growth and development. The ongoing hard currency crisis and recent outcry by business sector over high interest rates charged by the Commercial Banks is a manifestation of a failed financial institutional and insurance sector. It’s because of this, that there is no improved access to affordable financial services in South Sudan which has in turn limited the growth of Capital Markets.
Meanwhile, Umbrella of Political Parties recognizes that, there is not even a single country in the whole world that has ever and can ever develop without a fully state owned developed and financed financial institutional and insurance sectors. For instance, countries like China, Malaysia, Singapore and North Korea are what they are because of fully developed financial institutions and insurance sectors.
Our action plan
- Umbrella of Political Parties led Government will commit itself to develop state owned financial and insurance institutions alongside supporting Private Commercial Banks and insurance companies.
- Our government will reinstate and re-establish and support National Banks like South Sudan Commercial Bank (SSCB), Cooperative Bank, Post Bank South Sudan Limited and Peoples Agricultural Bank among others.
- Umbrella Coalition will rehabilitate the destroyed image of National Insurance Corporation (NIC) and set up National Social Security Fund (NSSF) by fightingcorruption and mismanagement therein so as to rebuild
People’s trust in these organizations.
- The state will also establish other insurance corporations across the country. Through these, people will be in position to access their pension in time especially when they are sick and when they retire from their jobs. The insurance sector will be scaled up to cover the whole country at affordable rate and it will also cover almost 80% of the entire population.
- The Umbrella Coalition led government will put much emphasis on developing financial institutions as the mechanisms to develop Capital markets that are not fully developed in South Sudan especially in rural areas. The People’s Agricultural bank of South Sudan will be established to cater for rural farmers through giving them affordable agriculture loans with no interest rates. All these will form a basis for capital markets authority to flourish in rural areas where even farmers will be attracted to invest in capital markets, shares and bonds among others. We affirm that during the Umbrella of Political Parties led government, no citizen will ever make an alarm over high interest rates charged by Commercial Banks like it is the case today.