South Sudan has yet to secure financing to make up for lost oil revenues, according to officials and diplomats, who say that only a fraction of a reported “$8bn loan” from China has been agreed.
South Sudan officials initially said Salva Kiir, president, secured the loan towards infrastructure during a trip to Beijing earlier this month. Such a sum would have put the south in a stronger position as it resumes negotiations with neighbouring Sudan over a range of thorny issues left unresolved when the two countries split last July after decades of civil war.
But it now appears the true figure is much smaller and nowhere near enough to make up for revenues lost from oil. Production was halted when talks with Khartoum over transit and pipeline fees broke down in February.