Economic Growth and Trade

Conflict and climate-driven shocks in South Sudan have significantly damaged agricultural production, which is South Sudan’s primary economic sector and source of livelihoods. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, up to 95 percent of South Sudanese rely on farming, herding, or fishing. Disruption to this sector causes substantial repercussions for South Sudan’s economy, causing dramatic increases in food prices, disrupting markets and trade, preventing adequate food production, and worsening food insecurity. 

USAID's Sustainable Agriculture for Economic Resiliency and Resilience through Agriculture in South Sudan activities are building resilience at the household and community levels, partnering with South Sudanese communities to restore and diversify livelihoods, strengthen community and intercommunal resource-sharing and management, and improve agricultural productivity of vulnerable households and communities. Interventions focus on the 13 target counties in USAID’s assistance strategy in Eastern Equatoria, Jonglei, Western Bahr El Ghazal, Unity, and Upper Nile states.  

USAID is working to strengthen fiscal transparency of the government of South Sudan through public financial management expertise. In collaboration with the World Bank, USAID is providing technical support to identify the underlying causes of government expenditure arrears, determine and verify the existing stock of arrears, prepare a database of all claims, and develop an arrears management strategy that provides a transparent process for arrears verification, prioritization, and clearance, as well as strategies to prevent accumulation of new expenditure arrears.