The Central Bank of South Sudan (CBSS) has shortened the currency conversion period to one and a half months beginning from the 18th July 2011 and ending on 1st September 2011.

This change of schedule has been necessitated by the launch of a new currency by the Republic of Sudan. The CBSS is asking all the people to comply with the new schedule and cautions that any old currencies which will not have been exchanged by the end of the period will be rendered valueless. 

The CBSS is advising the general public to go to the designated centres nearest to them and exchange the currencies. All the commercial banks are exchange centres. The CBSS has asked them to allocate specific counters for this exercise.

Any persons or companies with more than SDG 50,000 in cash have been advised to open bank accounts and deposit the money there. All funds held in bank accounts will be exchanged automatically. The banks have also been advised to report any suspicious deposits and fund movements which may signal money laundering and other crimes to the CBSS. The banks have also been asked to report cases of counterfeit notes as well.

In a memo from the CBSS signed by Mr. Kornelio Koriom Mayik who is the chairperson of the South Sudan Currency Conversion Committee, the commercial banks have been directed not to make any payments in SDG henceforth.

The currency conversion exercise had crippled the services of Automatic Teller Machines (ATM) in the country. This was largely due to the introduction of new denominations which required reprogramming of ATM systems. Similarly, the change in the size of the currency – the SSP is smaller than the SDG – also caused a major challenge. The issues have now been addressed and the ATM services have resumed normally.