Economy - overview:
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.
GDP (purchasing power parity): GDP (official exchange rate): GDP - real growth rate: GDP - per capita (PPP): GDP - composition by sector: Labor force: Labor force - by occupation: Unemployment rate: Population below poverty line: Household income or consumption by percentage share: Budget: Inflation rate (consumer prices): Central bank discount rate: Commercial bank prime lending rate: Agriculture - products: Industries: Industrial production growth rate: Electricity - production: Electricity - consumption: Electricity - exports: Electricity - imports: Oil - production: Oil - consumption: Oil - exports: Oil - imports: Oil - proved reserves: Natural gas - production: Natural gas - consumption: Natural gas - exports: Natural gas - imports: Natural gas - proved reserves: Exports: Exports - commodities: Exports - partners: Imports: Imports - commodities: Imports - partners: Debt - external: Exchange rates:
NOTE: The information regarding Somalia on this page is re-published from the 2011 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Somalia Economy 2011 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Somalia Economy 2011 should be addressed to the CIA.
$5.896 billion (2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 157
note:
data are in 2010 US dollars
[see also: GDP (purchasing power parity) country ranks ]
$2.372 billion (2009 est.)
[see also: GDP (official exchange rate) country ranks ]
2.6% (2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 138
[see also: GDP - real growth rate country ranks ]
$600 (2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 226
note:
data are in 2010 US dollars
[see also: GDP - per capita country ranks ]
agriculture: 65%
[see also: GDP - composition by sector - agriculture country ranks ]
industry:
10%
[see also: GDP - composition by sector - industry country ranks ]
services:
25% (2005 est.)
[see also: GDP - composition by sector - services country ranks ]
3.447 million (few skilled laborers) (2007)
country comparison to the world: 97
[see also: Labor force country ranks ]
agriculture: 71%
[see also: Labor force - by occupation - agriculture country ranks ]
industry and services:
29% (1975)
NA%
[see also: Unemployment rate country ranks ]
NA%
[see also: Population below poverty line country ranks ]
lowest 10%: NA%
[see also: Household income or consumption by percentage share - lowest 10% country ranks ]
highest 10%:
NA%
[see also: Household income or consumption by percentage share - highest 10% country ranks ]
revenues: $NA
[see also: Budget - revenues country ranks ]
expenditures:
$NA
[see also: Budget - expenditures country ranks ]
NA%
note:
businesses print their own money, so inflation rates cannot be easily determined
[see also: Inflation rate (consumer prices) country ranks ]
NA% (31 December 2008)
[see also: Central bank discount rate country ranks ]
NA%
[see also: Commercial bank prime lending rate country ranks ]
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%
[see also: Industrial production growth rate country ranks ]
280 million kWh (2007 est.)
country comparison to the world: 171
[see also: Electricity - production country ranks ]
260.4 million kWh (2007 est.)
country comparison to the world: 172
[see also: Electricity - consumption country ranks ]
0 kWh (2008 est.)
[see also: Electricity - exports country ranks ]
0 kWh (2008 est.)
[see also: Electricity - imports country ranks ]
108 bbl/day (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 111
[see also: Oil - production country ranks ]
5,000 bbl/day (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 168
[see also: Oil - consumption country ranks ]
1,475 bbl/day (2007 est.)
country comparison to the world: 121
[see also: Oil - exports country ranks ]
6,387 bbl/day (2007 est.)
country comparison to the world: 150
[see also: Oil - imports country ranks ]
0 bbl (1 January 2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 119
[see also: Oil - proved reserves country ranks ]
0 cu m (2008 est.)
country comparison to the world: 127
[see also: Natural gas - production country ranks ]
0 cu m (2008 est.)
country comparison to the world: 177
[see also: Natural gas - consumption country ranks ]
0 cu m (2008 est.)
country comparison to the world: 122
[see also: Natural gas - exports country ranks ]
0 cu m (2008 est.)
country comparison to the world: 130
[see also: Natural gas - imports country ranks ]
5.663 billion cu m (1 January 2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 91
[see also: Natural gas - proved reserves country ranks ]
$300 million (2006)
country comparison to the world: 174
[see also: Exports country ranks ]
livestock, bananas, hides, fish, charcoal, scrap metal
UAE 58.27%, Yemen 20.32%, Saudi Arabia 3.78% (2009)
$798 million (2006)
country comparison to the world: 179
[see also: Imports country ranks ]
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.)
country comparison to the world: 129
[see also: Debt - external country ranks ]
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
note:
the Republic of Somaliland, a self-declared independent country not recognized by any foreign government, issues its own currency, the Somaliland shilling
This page was last modified 09-Feb-11