S. Sudan Says New Sudanese Currency Part of ‘Economic War’

South Sudan’s minister for Peace on Monday accused Sudan of starting an economic war against South Sudan.

Freshly-minted notes of the new Sudanese pound in Khartoum, on July 24, 2011 as the country issues new currency following the South's secession from the north. Ashraf Shazly/AFP/Getty Images

South Sudan’s minister for Peace on Monday accused Sudan of starting an economic war against South Sudan.

“The Republic of Sudan seems to have declared an economic war against its neighbor the Republic of South Sudan,” Pagan Amum said in a press release on the South Sudan government website.

Sudan’s release of a new currency on Sunday is just one of the ways it is “stifling the economic growth” of the newly formed South Sudan, Amum said.

South Sudan began using its own new currency on July 18, nine days after it seceded from Sudan.

South Sudanese are exchanging their old Sudanese pounds for the new currency at stations in South Sudan. The country was planning to sell the old pounds back to Sudan but it is unclear if that will happen now that Sudan has a new currency, according to the Sudan Tribune.

Amum said that because of the new currency in Sudan, South Sudanese will be unable to return the old currency to the north. If the old Sudanese pound becomes worthless, South Sudan stands to lose US$700 million, he said.

“The release of the currency by the north is intended to destroy the economy of the Republic of South Sudan; they do not want to take responsibility of the old currency,” he said.