lio, Mogadishu
(mailing address is P. O. Box 574, Mogadishu); telephone p252o (01) 20811

Flag: light blue with a large white five-pointed star in the center;
design based on the flag of the UN (Italian Somaliland was a UN trust territory)

- Economy
Overview: One of the world's least developed countries, Somalia
has few resources. In 1988 per capita GDP was $210. Agriculture is the
most important sector of the economy, with the livestock sector
accounting for about 40% of GDP and about 65% of export earnings. Nomads
and seminomads who are dependent upon livestock for their livelihoods
make up about 50% of the population. Crop production generates only 10%
of GDP and employs about 20% of the work force. The main export crop is
bananas; sugar, sorghum, and corn are grown for the domestic market. The
small industrial sector is based on the processing of agricultural
products and accounts for less than 10% of GDP. At the end of 1988
serious economic problems facing the nation were the external debt of
$2.8 billion and double-digit inflation.

GDP: $1.7 billion, per capita $210; real growth rate - 1.4% (1988)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 81.7% (1988 est.)

Unemployment rate: NA%

Budget: revenues $273 million; expenditures $405 million, including
capital expenditures of $219 million (1987)

Exports: $58.0 million (f.o.b., 1988); commodities--livestock,
hides, skins, bananas, fish;
partners--US 0.5%, Saudi Arabia, Italy, FRG (1986)

Imports: $354.0 million (c.i.f., 1988); commodities--textiles,
petroleum products, foodstuffs, construction materials;
partners--US 13%, Italy, FRG, Kenya, UK, Saudi Arabia (1986)

External debt: $2.8 billion (1989 est.)

Industrial production: growth rate NA%

Electricity: 71,000 kW capacity; 65 million kWh produced,
8 kWh per capita (1989)

Industries: a few small industries, including sugar refining,
textiles, petroleum refining

Agriculture: dominant sector, led by livestock raising (cattle, sheep,
goats); crops--bananas, sorghum, corn, mangoes, sugarcane; not self-sufficient
in food; fishing potential largely unexploited

Aid: US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-88), $618 million; Western
(non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1970-87), $2.8 billion;
OPEC bilateral aid (1979-89), $1.1 billion; Communist countries (1970-88),
$336 million

Currency: Somali shilling (plural--shillings);
1 Somali shilling (So.Sh.) = 100 centesimi

Exchange rates: Som