South Sudan sets $500,000 base for investors
By Philip Thon Aleu
November 27, 2008 (JUBA) — The government of Southern Sudan has passed a draft law that sets a threshold of a half-million dollars before foreign investors seeking a foothold in the mineral-rich country are granted a certificate.
The Investment Promotion Bill, approved by Parliament Monday, only awaiting the signature of the President of the Government to become law, also lists 10 priority areas for investment. “The amount to be invested by a foreign investor is at least $500,000 or the equivalent in any freely convertible currency deposited in the Bank of South Sudan,” reads the Act.
The priority areas for investment are listed as agriculture, including agro-business; physical infrastructure; mining; research on and mapping natural resources; forestry; and heavy industries such as cement, construction, electric and domestic appliances.
Priority areas also include Transport, Telecommunications, print and electronic media, and information and communications technology; commercial banking, insurance, and property management; pharmaceuticals; and tourism and hotel development.
Under the proposed law, a South Sudan Investment Authority will be set up.
Before an investment certificate is issued to a foreign investor, the authorities would consider the business’s contribution to employment of and skills transfer to Sudanese, taxes, and uses domestic raw materials. Officials would also consider value addition to local resources, and contribution to reconstruction, for instance, by building health centers, schools, feeder roads and schools.
But the Authority could also revoke the investment certificate with a 30-day notice in case the investor breaches the terms of the licence.
The investment certificate would entitle investors to a renewable two-year Sudanese government entry permit. Under the peace agreement, Sudan’s ex-rebels have authority over commerce, trade and commercial regulations in the region, but immigration is under the national government.
According to the draft law, the investment certificate is not transferable, except with the permission of an Investment Authority yet to be formed.
The Authority would determine the incentives due to investors.
Three years after the Comprehensive Peace Agreement that ended the north-south civil war, Southern Sudan has been operating largely on archaic investment guidelines passed under a presidential decree.
(ST)