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South Sudan launches its first GDP estimate

Submitted by Thomas Danielewitz on Tue, 2011-08-23 10:58

The dust had hardly settled from South Sudan’s Independence Day celebrations before the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) of South Sudan formerly known as the Southern Sudan Center for Census, Statistics and Evaluation, released the new country’s first estimate of GDP. The long-awaited figures were revealed at a well-attended press conference at the NBS on 16 August 2011. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to attend the event, but I had the pleasure of spending a couple of days in late July in the company of NBS’ Director of Economic Statistics, David Chan Thiang, and his small team of dedicated economists and statisticians.

Yes, South Sudan Can

Submitted by Shanta on Tue, 2011-07-19 22:43

At the recent launch of the book, Yes Africa Can: Success Stories from a Dynamic Continent, someone asked whether there are any lessons for Africa’s newest country, South Sudan.  I can think of at least three.


1.It can be done.  Yes Africa Can documents a number of countries, such as Mozambique and Uganda, which emerged from civil conflict and sustained above-7-percent GDP growth for over a decade.  It also describes the well-known case of a mineral exporter, Botswana, that had the world’s fastest per-capita growth rate (7 percent) from 1966-99.   These case studies show that South Sudan, which is both a post-conflict country and an oil exporter, can also succeed.

The Child’s Name is Independent Day Moses

Submitted by Herbert Boh on Fri, 2011-07-15 10:21

The clock stroke midnight on July 9 sparking an eruption into joyous madness as citizens of Juba broke into dance, song, horn honking, drum beats, blasts of the vuvuzela, and the ululations of women to celebrate the advent of South Sudan’s day of independence.


In the labor room of Juba University Teaching Hospital, Josephina, the mother of three other children was being encouraged: “A little more effort. Push!”


Seconds after, a baby boy was born. The midwife who would only be known by her first name Rose heaved a sign of relief. Certainly one of the very first citizens born into the newly-independent country of South Sudan was letting out his first cries.

I was there when the Republic of South Sudan was born!

Submitted by Obiageli Ezekwesili on Sat, 2011-07-09 22:05


Obiageli Ezekwesili (c) with South Sudan President Salva Kiir (r). Photo: Laura Kullenberg, The World Bank


4:00 AM: I wake up this morning in Nairobi unusually excited and think to myself, “today is actually the Independence Day of South Sudan. Wow! This day has finally come!” I say a word of prayer for the day and get myself ready for the 5:30 a.m. trip to the airport to board our flight to Juba.

South Sudan: “Juba-lant” as dreams turn into reality

Submitted by Manka Angwafo on Tue, 2011-07-05 10:10


 Photo: A line of “boda bodas” queuing for fuel along the main road in Juba town


For the past three weeks I have been working in Juba, South Sudan. In a meeting with the government last week, an official said to me, “…we are dreaming, but come July 9th everything will change and our dreams will become reality.”


On July 9th South Sudan will become an independent country, following the longest civil war in African history.


Driving through Juba, one cannot fail to notice the preparations taking place; from the exceptionally clean streets and banners spread across public buildings to the soon-to-be national anthem on repeat on the radio. There is a sense of excitement, longing and hope.


However, tension surrounding the conflict in South Kordofan casts a cloud on celebrations and underscores the risks ahead. 

Economic Policy in Africa’s Youngest Country

Submitted by Shanta on Fri, 2011-03-18 09:59

UPDATE: Here is a copy of an interview I gave to Otieno Ogeda, from the Pioneer newspaper in Juba.


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I felt truly privileged to participate in a workshop in Juba on “Growth and Sustainable Development in the new Republic of South Sudan,” organized by the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement. 


South Sudan, which becomes independent on July 9, 2011, faces extreme challenges and opportunities.  Devastated by civil war, the country has high and deep poverty.  The poverty rate is 51 percent. In a recent survey, among the assets of the population is “a pair of shoes”: among the poorest 20 percent, only 37 percent owned one. About 80 percent of the people earn their living from (mostly subsistence) agriculture.  Low levels of literacy (27 percent) translate to extremely weak capacity throughout.

Collecting survey data via mobile phone in Southern Sudan

Submitted by Gabriel Demombynes on Tue, 2011-03-08 01:28

We’re in the middle of an unusual data collection exercise, which we’ve called the Southern Sudan Experimental Phone Survey (SSEPS). To get a sense of how the survey works, see this photo essay. The work has been conducted in part with funds from the Poverty and Social Impact Analysis Multi-Donor Trust Fund.

In November, in conjunction with the Southern Sudan Centre for Census, Statistics and Evaluation, we delivered mobile phones to 1000 households in the 10 state capitals of Southern Sudan. Each month starting last December, Sudanese interviewers from a call center in Nairobi have phoned respondents on those phones to collect information on their economic situation, security, outlook, and other topics.

Peace and War in South Sudan

Submitted by Shanta on Mon, 2009-12-14 09:51

An article in Saturday’s New York Times entitled “Violence Grips South Sudan as Vote Nears” reminded me of a 2008 research paper by Ibrahim Elbadawi, Gary Milante and Constantino Pischadda which models the relationship between Juba and Khartoum as a “game” leading up to the referendum in 2011. 

How will the financial crisis affect remittances to Africa?

Submitted by Marilou Uy on Tue, 2008-11-04 11:18

Sub-Saharan Africa received almost $12 billion in remittances in 2007, and that was only the official number. With "informal" flows added the total amount can easily be double that number. Nigeria, Kenya, Sudan, Senegal, Uganda and South Africa received the highest volume of remittances, while in smaller countries such as Lesotho remittances represent up to a quarter of GDP.

Remittance costs are significantly higher for Africa compared to other regions; costs can go up to almost 25% of the amount remitted. Remittances between African countries (from South Africa, for example) are especially expensive. Reducing these costs will mean substantial extra transfers, and this will be a focus of the World Bank’s medium term agenda on the African financial sector. The immediate concern is, however, stability of flows: the recent international credit crisis will lead to a slowdown in remittances. Remittances have generally been counter-cyclical in the past, as they tend to increase when the receiving country experiences adverse events.

But a recession in sending countries could hurt the capacity of migrants to send money home. It is still too early to determine if the latter factor will dominate and cause a decline in the total amount remitted, although there are some disturbing signs. High-frequency data on remittances for African countries are scarce, but available data show that remittances from the US seem to have slowed down in recent months; remittances from other sending countries, however, have not yet been affected.

Since some readers of this blog are senders of remittances, and others recipients, it would be helpful to hear how you see remittances changing  in the current situation.