South Sudan Central Bank Governor Dr James Alic Garang, Minister of Finance and Planning Awou Daniel Chuang and President Salva Kiir after the swearing-in ceremony of Awou as the new head of Finance Ministry. [Courtesy]
He is a former lecturer at the Upper Nile University where he rose to become Deputy Dean, College of Economic and Social Studies.
He said he is determined to oversee President Salva Kiir's government's build a prosperous future for South Sudanese people who have endured years of strife both in the fight for independence and afterward.
As Africa's youngest nation, South Sudan gained independence from Sudan on July 9, 2011 amid high hopes of economic revival.
However, political disagreements soon erupted into a brutal conflict that displaced millions and ravaged the fragile economy
Now, a fragile peace is taking hold since rival factions signed a power-sharing agreement in 201
According to Garang, the country is embarking on a critical effort to reconstruct the economy, diversify the economy from non-oil revenue and provide opportunities for its long-suffering people.
Some early signs of recovery are emerging; Agriculture is bouncing back, infrastructure projects are connecting rural areas for the first time in years, and foreign capital is slowly flowing into sectors such as oil, mining and telecommunications.
The financial sector is also on the upswing and thriving. But challenges remain.
"The challenge for us is with the nature of our economy which is cash-based. The use of modern payment systems for example or instruments remains limited but we could say all is not lost. As a result, at the moment the bank is working on establishing a National Payment system with different components and payment solutions," says Dr Garang.
"The other aspect where we remain behind the curve relative to sisterly central banks is the aspect of interoperability. But to overcome this challenge, we are building a national switch to help develop drive interoperability within the sector."
Within the East African region, the advent of mobile money has revolutionised the lives of those who used to send and receive cash in envelopes via a costly and risky bus ride.
However, digital transactions are yet to transform customer-to-business (C2B) payments in South Sudan, which continue to be largely settled in cash.
This is because limited interoperability between different mobile money providers, especially across borders, and missing or outdated regulatory frameworks hinder the widespread adoption of digitised merchant payments, one of the prerequisites and key drivers of e-commerce and cross-border trade.
"In this context, the bank has been promoting the use of electronic payment systems, like mobile payments and payments through Internet banking and prepaid payment instruments such as debit cards, and credit cards. And speaking about mobile payments, like what you have in Kenya, for example, in the context of South Sudan, we have several mobile money operators," says Garang.