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Somalia Export of Labor
Somalia was an exporter of labor to other members of the
League of Arab States (Arab League), and Somali citizens received
remittances from these workers. These remittances constituted the
largest source of foreign exchange in the economy. Based on an
assumption of 165,000 Somali overseas workers, with an average
annual wage of US$6,150, one-third of which was being remitted,
one economist has calculated that more than US$330 million was
being remitted annually. This figure represented fifteen times
the sum of Somalia-based yearly wages and nearly 40 percent of
total GNP, including remittances. The official remittance figure
was US$30 million, the amount channeled through banks. Most
unofficial remittances--in the form of foreign exchange and
household goods and appliances sent home from abroad--went to
urban traders. This fact explains the apparent abundance of
supplies in Somali cities, which, based on the foreign exchange
estimates from official sources, would not have been possible. A
large portion of the remittances went to supply arms to the rural
guerrillas who toppled the government in January 1991
(see Sources of Opposition
, ch. 5).
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