Somalia The Economy
Bananas, one of Somalia's principal commercial crops
ALREADY SERIOUSLY WEAKENED by a devastating civil war, the
Somali economy was further undermined by the fall of President
Mahammad Siad Barre's government in late January 1991 and the
subsequent absence of political consensus. Economic statistics
from the early post-Siad Barre period were not available in early
1992; however, one can gain some understanding of Somalia's
economic situation during that period by looking at the country's
prior economic history.
Generally, interventions in the Somali economy, whether by
Italian fascists, Somali Marxists, or International Monetary Fund
(
IMF--see Glossary) economists, have had minimal impact on
economic development. Yet the shrewd Somalis have been able to
survive and even prosper in their harsh desert homeland.
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