South Sudan leader names former senior official at c.bank as new governor

South Sudan's President Salva Kiir has appointed a former deputy governor at the central bank as its new governor, a government official said. Jamal Wani Abdalla was appointed after the president sacked incumbent Dier Tong, the president's spokesman, Ateny Wek Ateny, said late on Wednesday.

South Sudan's economy is in the doldrums after more than a grinding six-year civil war that led to the fleeing of about a quarter of the country's population to neighbouring countries. The war has also squeezed the economy's mainstay, oil production, to a trickle while output in other sectors like agriculture also plummeted.

"Abdalla has been given the mandate to try to fix the economy," Ateny told Reuters. The IMF forecasts South Sudan's GDP will expand at 8.1% in 2019/20 fiscal year from 3.4% in 2018/19.