Southern Sudan gets over 500m dollars in oil revenues

Southern Sudan gets over 500m dollars in oil revenues
BBC Monitoring Service – United Kingdom
Published: Aug 04, 2007

Text of report by Sudanese TV on 3 August

The Joint Committee for Distributing Oil Revenues has announced that the share of the Government of South Sudan [GoSS] during the first half of the current year amounted to $516.97 million of which the province’s government received 87 per cent in cash. Its share in the same period of last year was $486 million of which 76 per cent were transferred in cash. The share of Al-Wahda Province, in accordance with the 2.0 per cent share allocated in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement to oil-producing provinces, amounted to $16.18 million, whereas the amount transferred was $18.54 million. The share of Upper Nile Province for the same period amounted to $4.9 million, whereas $5.5 million was transferred to cover arrears from 2006.

The Ministry of Finance and National Economy said the budgetary performance improved in the first half of the year after surmounting the difficulties in marketing the Dar Blend [of petroleum] externally, in addition to the global rise in oil prices which reflected positively on revenues in the second quarter.

GoSS officials in the Joint Committee for Distributing Oil Revenues praised the accuracy of the statements and figures presented by the Finance Ministry on the amounts of petroleum produced and their revenues. It is expected that the improvement in the budgetary performance and the increase in oil revenues will be reflected on development projects in North and South Sudan for the benefit of citizens and promote industrial and agricultural projects.