JUBA, April 5 (Xinhua) -- South Sudan's central bank on Friday vowed to sustain ongoing crackdown on informal foreign currency traders around major towns in a bid to stabilize the financial sector.
James Alic Garang, governor of the Bank of South Sudan, announced the end of the 45-day grace period provided by the banking industry regulator to all informal currency traders to obtain licenses for their operations.
"Now that the grace period has come to an end, we have done everything in our powers as the regulator. We are now saying from today, it is illegal to sell foreign currency in South Sudan if you don't have a license," Alic told journalists in Juba, the capital of South Sudan.
The central bank ordered in November 2023, all informal currency traders to start to obtain licenses at the cost of 50 U.S. dollars and also deposit capital amounting to 1,000 dollars in order to maintain operation.
The apex bank is targeting small traders who trade foreign currency in the open along busy streets and markets, a practice that has endured since South Sudan won independence from neighboring Sudan in 2011.
The South Sudan pound (SSP), which had increasingly weakened against the U.S. dollar last week, started to regain strength following an intense crackdown on unregistered currency traders.
The local currency which had been trading at 2,500 South Sudan pound to the dollar rose to 1,700 SSP at the start of this week. ■