The National Council of Ministers has approved an austerity budget of 6.5 billion South Sudanese Pounds for the fiscal year of 2012/2013.
Government’s spokesperson Barnaba Marial Benjamin told the press the Cabinet in toay’s extraordinary meeting instructed the Minister for Finance to fine-tune the budget within the ceiling of 6.5 billion pounds.He added that the Finance Minister stressed increasing non oil revenue collection through improved taxes especially in alcoholic drinks and cigarettes.
Dr Marial said the Council also instructed the Ministers to take concrete action to clean their payrolls of ghost workers.
He said all the government agencies are to work with the Ministries of Labour and Finance to ensure that all employees are included in the electronic payrolls system after July except the Ministry of Defence.
Dr Marial added that only employees who turn up for work will be paid through a bank account.
The Cabinet also approved official signature inks: the President and the Vice President will sign in black, Ministers will sign in blue, the Secretary-General of the Government, the undersecretaries and director-generals will sign in green, and the auditors and accountants will sign in red.