South Sudan Orders Banks to Enforce Cash Tax Payments

JUBA, South Sudan — August 29, 2026

South Sudan’s Ministerial High-Level Committee on Economic Reform has directed commercial banks collecting government taxes to enforce a policy requiring taxpayers to make tax payments in cash.

The directive was issued during the committee’s 14th regular meeting, chaired by Interior Minister Gen. Aleu Ayieny Aleu, who was serving as acting chairperson.

The government says the measure is intended to increase the amount of physical cash circulating through the banking system and help address South Sudan’s continuing liquidity shortage. Authorities have also linked the policy to efforts to ensure government workers and organized forces receive their salaries on time.

Public Service and Human Resource Development Minister Ezekiel Lol Gatkuoth told reporters that the committee had reviewed progress in paying government employees. The government recently began salary payments, starting with members of the South Sudan People’s Defence Forces.

The cash-tax policy itself is not new. The committee introduced the measure in July, directing taxpayers to pay assessed taxes in South Sudanese pounds through designated revenue-collection banks. The latest decision specifically calls on commercial banks to comply with and enforce that policy.

The committee also discussed unauthorized collections at checkpoints along the Juba–Bahr el Ghazal and Juba–Yei roads. Security personnel were instructed not to demand unauthorized fees from drivers, while authorities warned against illegal checkpoints.

Officials said businesses should pay required taxes and that the committee would not allow unauthorized tax exemptions as the government works to strengthen domestic revenue collection.

The measures are part of broader government efforts to address South Sudan’s cash shortage, improve revenue collection and make salary payments more reliable.