Juba, February 26, 2016 (SSNA) — The World Bank and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) has excluded the Republic of South Sudan from annual global human development report, the Kenyan-based Daily Nation reported.
The paper stated that Juba has protested how the bank treats the young nation, saying South Sudan has never been rated by the world bank since the world’s youngest country gained independence from Sudan in July 2011.
The annual global human development report, which the South Sudan News Agency (SSNA) cannot independently verify, is a comprehensive and detailed document published every year by the UNDP and the World Bank. The report is based on how countries perform in major services that are vital to development. The list of the services that qualify a country to be included in the report includes security, water, education, food, nutrition, among others.
“We want to know how our performance compares with those of others and compare with desirable benchmarks. We want to know how we are serving our people in terms of services and many other desirable of attributes in life,” Former finance minister and Presidential adviser Aggrey Tisa Sabuni was quoted by the Daily Nation as saying.
“Not to be reflected in the community of nations in these respects has been disturbing and unwelcoming and shows a sense of global isolation,” Sabuni complained.
The paper also reported that South Sudan’s government blames its exclusion on “weak institutions” incapable of producing data needed by the World Bank.
Most South Sudanese believe that their violence-ravaged nation is being looted by political elites who care less about their future and development of the country.