Juba — The United Nations has warned that despite the austerity measures put in place by South Sudan to deal with its economic woes, humanitarian agencies will have to increase relief efforts in order to keep the country's poor alive as the financial situation worsens.
"It is going be the humanitarians who are going provide the assistance that is necessary to help families survive," U.N. humanitarian coordinator in South Sudan Lise Grande told IPS.
The economic crisis was triggered by South Sudan's decision to shut down oil production, which accounts for 98 precent of the country's revenue, at the end of January following a dispute with Sudan over fees charged to use its pipelines.
The government introduced austerity measures shortly afterwards, which include cutting essentials such as investments, halving expenditure on government institutions, limiting borrowing to only fund activities that will stimulate economic growth such as infrastructure development, and intensifying tax revenue collection efforts.
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