Country Brief

Somalia is an Arab LDC and a fragile state. Due to several civil wars, floods and outbreaks, Somalian economy is considered to be one of the poorest and least developed in the World. As a fact, it is extremely vulnerable. Besides, Somalia has a lack of natural resources and most of its mineral reservoir is unexploited.





Somalia’s private sector has grown considerably, particularly in the spheres of trade, commerce and infrastructure and number of Somali areas have established favourable business environments that have facilitated investment in sectors including livestock, telecommunications, and remittances. But this remains limited to address the extreme poverty facing the country and its people.

Absence of a central government authority and inadequate government support and administration are the main challenges that have been detrimental to Somalia’s economy, particularly to its currency. Somalia main exports are: livestock, bananas, skins, fish, charcoal and scrap metal. Main export partners are: United Arab Emirates, Yemen and Oman.





Export potential

Notes: Top 20 products listed in decreasing order of their export potential to the world. Development indicators are relative to the country’s current situation, green indicating performance above its trade-weighted median and red otherwise. A blank cell indicates that data are not available. A blank cell in export potential means that the product was not consistently demanded over five years by any country in the respective region. Exports (US$ thousand) correspond to average exports to the world over the period 2009-2013.