Somalia

Despite the lack of effective national governance, Somalia has maintained a healthy informal economy, largely based on livestock, remittance/money transfer companies, and telecommunications. Agriculture is the most important sector with livestock normally accounting for about 40% of GDP and more than 50% of export earnings. Nomads and semi-pastoralists, who are dependent upon livestock for their livelihood, make up a large portion of the population. Livestock, hides, fish, charcoal, and bananas are Somalia’s principal exports, while sugar, sorghum, corn, qat, and machined goods are the principal imports. Somalia’s small industrial sector, based on the processing of agricultural products, has largely been looted and the machinery sold as scrap metal. Somalia’s service sector also has grown. Telecommunication firms provide wireless services in most major cities and offer the lowest international call rates on the continent. In the absence of a formal banking sector, money transfer/remittance services have sprouted throughout the country, handling up to $1.6 billion in remittances annually. Mogadishu’s main market offers a variety of goods from food to the newest electronic gadgets. Hotels continue to operate and are supported with private-security militias. Due to armed attacks on and threats to humanitarian aid workers, the World Food Programme partially suspended its operations in southern Somalia in early January 2010 pending improvement in the security situation. Somalia’s arrears to the IMF have continued to grow.

$5.896 billion (2010 est.)

$5.75 billion (2009 est.)

$5.607 billion (2008 est.)

$2.372 billion (2010 est.)

2.6% (2010 est.)

2.6% (2009 est.)

2.6% (2008 est.)

$600 (2010 est.)

$600 (2009 est.)

$600 (2008 est.)

3.447 million (few skilled laborers) (2007)

NA%

NA%

NA%

NA% (31 December 2008)

NA%

bananas, sorghum, corn, coconuts, rice, sugarcane, mangoes, sesame seeds, beans; cattle, sheep, goats; fish

a few light industries, including sugar refining, textiles, wireless communication

NA%

280 million kWh (2007 est.)

260.4 million kWh (2007 est.)

0 kWh (2008 est.)

0 kWh (2008 est.)

108 bbl/day (2009 est.)

5,000 bbl/day (2009 est.)

1,475 bbl/day (2007 est.)

6,387 bbl/day (2007 est.)

0 bbl (1 January 2010 est.)

0 cu m (2008 est.)

0 cu m (2008 est.)

0 cu m (2008 est.)

0 cu m (2008 est.)

5.663 billion cu m (1 January 2009 est.)

$300 million (2006)

livestock, bananas, hides, fish, charcoal, scrap metal

UAE 58.27%, Yemen 20.32%, Saudi Arabia 3.78% (2009)

$798 million (2006)

manufactures, petroleum products, foodstuffs, construction materials, qat

Djibouti 30.84%, Kenya 8.06%, India 7.86%, China 6.97%, Brazil 6.59%, Yemen 4.97%, Oman 4.72%, UAE 4.6% (2009)

$3 billion (2001 est.)

Somali shillings (SOS) per US dollar - NA (2007-08), 1,438.3 (2006) official rate; the unofficial black market rate was about 23,000 shillings per dollar as of February 2007