Feb
19
IMF to Help Somalia Print First Banknotes in a Quarter Century
By-
State will circulate shilling notes to bolster monetary policy
-
Creditors willing to cancel nation’s $5.3 billion debt
The International Monetary Fund is backing Somalia’s plans to replace tattered currency notes that were printed before the Horn of Africa nation plunged into civil war almost three decades ago.
The new Somali shilling notes may come into circulation this year, alongside the dollar that’s been the main means of payment, and will replace fake or old currency in circulation, said Samba Thiam, the IMF’s country head.
“About 98 percent of the currency circulating in the country is fake,” Thiam said in an interview Friday in Nairobi, the capital of neighboring Kenya. “The remaining 2 percent is currency printed during 1990-91, still circulating, but in very bad shape.”…
IMF to Help Somalia Print First Banknotes in a Quarter Century
