South Sudan’s oil revenues arrived before treasury discipline. The result was not simply volatility, but a shadow fiscal state: earmarks, off-budget schemes, arrears, and oil-backed advances that weakened the budget as an instrument of order. A different sequencing—cash control first, monetisation later—remains possible.
Many strategies in emerging markets do not fail loudly. They drift, stall, and underperform — not because governance is absent, but because it is misaligned. This article examines how institutional friction quietly erodes investment outcomes across infrastructure, banking, energy, and digital systems — and why investors consistently underestimate the cost of governance latency.
© 2026 Bramston & Associates. All rights reserved.
