Somalia Stability depends on aid and job opportunities

Main challenges:

Somalia faces several challenges in its quest for peace, stability and economic growth. The recent drought crisis and the hunger that ensued therefrom led to great hardships in the country requiring humanitarian assistance from international community. Somalia is now moving forward towards overcoming the war era knowing that the economic conditions are still arduous and poverty is still widespread. Moreover, official authorities lack sufficient resources, capacities and supporting mechanisms to meet the urgent development needs as well as the humanitarian needs of the population, while aid accounts for 40% of the public budget for 2017.

Moreover, the recent drought episode affected vulnerable communities that rely on agriculture for their livelihoods, which led to around 6.2 million people, almost half of the population, being in dire need of food and humanitarian assistance.

The economic situation in Somalia will depend on the ability to contain the hunger crisis left by drought, and on pursuing the necessary reforms while international aid continuing to flow in the country for developing the capacities and ensuring security and safety. In this context, it is of paramount importance to seek to create job opportunities, especially for young people 67% of whom are unemployed, which aggravated the crisis with its worst consequences being the extremism movements that emerged, and the intensification of illegal migration that exposed migrants to great dangers.

 

Somalia’s weak ranking in the World Bank indicators for ease of doing business for 2017 among 190 countries

 

Source: World Bank Doing Business 2017