Sudan debt
hangover would crimp independent south
The
World Bank says South Sudan would be unlikely to attract major
multilateral or private investment in its first years as an
independent state because of a likely bad debt hangover from
Khartoum.
It says even though the oil-producing south's scruffy capital
Juba , has grown dramatically since a 2005, much of the
investment was from small-scale Kenyan, Ugandan or local
entrepreneurs.
Northern and southern leaders have still not agreed how much of
Sudan 's bad debt the south would have to share if its
population, as widely expected, chooses secession.
The World Bank South Sudan Country Manager, Laurence Clarke,
said it will take some time to work out a total debt clearance
arrangement, as Sudan has a total bad debt of around twenty five
billion dollars.
Clarke said until that was worked out, no significant new
financing, from the Bank or most of the international
institutions will be forthcoming.
Presidential Affairs Minister, Luka Biong Deng, said the issue
was a complicated one and would not want to talk about it.
A 2005 peace deal split revenues from southern oil fields 50:50
between north and south, giving Juba's semi-autonomous
administration around two billion dollars in a year.
REUTERS/Williams/Alade
