Fifth-poorest country in the world has a GDP of $5.7 billion in 2013
NAIROBI, Kenya – In its first economic report on Somalia, released on Thursday, the World Bank said that the Somalian economy remains resilient.
Speaking at a press conference, World Bank country director for Somalia Bella Bird said that the World Bank is encouraged by the progress that Somalis have made in the last three years to rebuild their country amidst immense challenges.
“So far there are positive signs that the economy is responding, Somalis are returning from abroad, shops are opening, new financial institutions have been licensed and property markets are booming,” she added.
The report noted that the new government in Somalia inherited a dysfunctional economy with high levels of unemployment, poverty and large infrastructure gaps.
The bank estimated Somalia’s GDP was at $5.7 billion in 2013, with an estimated per capita GDP of $435. In 2013, Somalia ranked as the fifth-poorest country in the world after enduring two decades of conflict.
Household consumption financed by remittances was equivalent to more than 100 percent of Somalia’s GDP in 2013 with food and beverages production accounting for about 60 percent of the total, while exports contributed only 14 percent, the report said.
Total tax revenue grew by more than 300 percent to $145 million in 2014 from $35.1 million in 2012, the report said.
This is the first economic update for Somalia since the 2005 World Bank country economic Memorandum for Somalia. The long conflict in the East African country has made it hard to monitor economic and social data in the country.
