South Sudan has requested a $1.9 billion loan from China to be allocated for oil fields, and infrastructure development projects, Foreign Minister Deng Alor Kuol said on Tuesday.

According to the minister, South Sudan requested the financial assistance during his recent visit to China.

Like Us on Facebook

"We [usually] present a list. Anything below $40 million, we ask the Chinese government for it to be a grant and anything above $50 million to be a concessional loan. So we are asking for $1.9 billion," Kuol said.

The Export-Import Bank of China is reportedly "working on this loan," Mawien Makol Arik, the spokesman of South Sudan's foreign ministry, said on Tuesday.

If the request is granted approval, South Sudan, which is valued at $9.015 billion by the World Bank, will relaunch key oil fields in Unity State that were closed down during a two-year civil war that ended in 2015, according to US News. Oil is the main source of South Sudan's revenue.

"The oil companies want to work in secure environments. When there is no security it will be difficult for oil companies to come and start production," Joseph Monytuil, Northern Leich governor, told the Associated Press.

Of the proposed loan, about $700 million will be allocated to rebuild roads between Juba and Wau. "We want to focus and use this money... on infrastructure like roads, bridges," Alor said.

The move comes as the war-torn African country is faced with economic crisis and is struggling to pay civil servants. Earlier this week, South Sudanese government claimed that the inflation rate peaked 660 percent last month.

South Sudan's economy has been experiencing stress after the drop of global oil price and the ongoing war.

TagsSouth Sudan, china, loan, financial assistance