The South Sudan Pound
Currency · SSP · £ · 1 country
Nine days after independence, on 18 July 2011, the Bank of South Sudan issued a pound of its own and swapped it for the Sudanese pound at par. Sudan's currency stopped being legal tender in the south on 1 September 2011. Since an amendment to the central bank's law in 2023, the currency's official name is the South Sudan Pound.
The sign
The catalogue gives the pound sign £, which grew out of the letter L, standing for libra, the Roman pound of silver. The Bank of South Sudan itself writes amounts with the code SSP, as in 100 SSP, and a hundredth of a pound is a piaster.
The same sign stands for 5 other currencies, among them the British pound and the Falkland Islands pound.
- ISO code
- SSP
- ISO number
- 728
- Subunit
- piaster, 1/100
An amount, written out
£1,234.50
- £1,234.50EnglishSouth Sudan
The sign in code
HTML, CSS, JavaScript, UTF-8
- HTML
£££- CSS
content: "\00A3";- JavaScript
"\u00A3"- UTF-8
0xC2 0xA3- UTF-16
0x00A3- UTF-32
0x000000A3
Where the South Sudanese pound is the official currency
South Sudan is the member; Sudan, whose pound was legal tender in the south until September 2011, issues its own.
About the South Sudanese pound
Who issues the South Sudan Pound
The Bank of South Sudan issues the notes and coins. The Southern Sudan Legislative Assembly approved the new currency before the south seceded from Sudan on 9 July 2011, and the bank put it into circulation nine days later.
In 2023 the Transitional National Legislative Assembly passed the Bank of South Sudan (Amendment) Act, and the president signed it into law. The act changed the currency's name from South Sudanese Pound to South Sudan Pound. The code stayed SSP. Notes carrying the new name began to appear in 2024, in the same denominations and with the same core security features as before.
What the south spent before independence
The Central Bank of Sudan issued the Sudanese pound, and after the Comprehensive Peace Agreement of 2005 it was the legal currency throughout Sudan, the south included. The new pound replaced it one for one. Banners in Juba announced the conversion. From 1 September 2011 only the new money was legal tender in South Sudan, which left a window of about six weeks in which either pound could settle a debt.
How larger notes followed rising prices
The first series ran from one pound to 100. Small notes worth 5, 10 and 25 piasters followed on 19 October 2011. In 2016 a 20 pound note replaced the 25, and the one pound note gave way to a coin.
That November the bank called reports that it was printing notes of 200, 500 and 1,000 pounds false. In 2018 it issued a 500 pound note, to make daily cash payments easier after years of inflation. On 8 October 2020, citing the rapid fall of the pound against the US dollar, the government announced that it would soon change the currency. A maroon 1,000 pound note followed in February 2021, issued against rising inflation and an economic crisis.
Every note carries the portrait of John Garang de Mabior, the late leader of the independence movement. The backs carry animals and the land: giraffes, Sanga cattle, buffalo with a pineapple, oryx with an oil derrick, elephants, a lion by a waterfall, the Nile and a pair of ostriches.
When the piaster coins arrived
Coins took four years. The first ones reached circulation on Independence Day, 9 July 2015, and the 10 piasters in copper-plated steel shows an oil rig, the 20 in brass-plated steel a shoebill stork, and the 50 in nickel-plated steel a northern white rhinoceros. Bimetallic coins of one and two pounds followed in 2016, with a Nubian giraffe and an African shield. As of 2016 the South African Mint was striking the coins.
Common questions
Questions about the South Sudanese pound
Is it the South Sudanese pound or the South Sudan Pound?
Both names have been official. The currency was issued in 2011 as the South Sudanese pound. The Bank of South Sudan (Amendment) Act of 2023 renamed it the South Sudan Pound, and notes with the new name began to appear in 2024. The ISO code, SSP, and the denominations stayed the same.
Whose face is on South Sudan's banknotes?
John Garang de Mabior, the late leader of South Sudan's independence movement, whom the central bank calls the founding father. His portrait is on the front of every denomination, from the one pound note to the 1,000. The backs show wildlife, cattle and the Nile.
Did South Sudan use the Sudanese pound before 2011?
Yes. Before independence the south used the Sudanese pound issued by the Central Bank of Sudan, which the Comprehensive Peace Agreement of 2005 made the legal currency across the whole country. The Bank of South Sudan introduced its own pound on 18 July 2011, nine days after independence, and exchanged it at par. The Sudanese pound ceased to be legal tender in South Sudan on 1 September 2011, so for about six weeks both were legal tender in the south.
What coins does South Sudan have?
Five. The 10, 20 and 50 piaster coins came out on 9 July 2015, showing an oil rig, a shoebill stork and a northern white rhinoceros. Bimetallic one and two pound coins followed in 2016; the one pound coin replaced the one pound note. The coins were struck at the South African Mint.