WDM EDITORIAL
It will be a waste of time and resources to pursue a pipe dream of this kind. A currency must be accepted by the public and interchangeable with other currencies. Let us assume that it will be accepted by the Puntland State public, and then it will be acceptable to the Somali population at large as it had happened before. However, Puntland State Bank and residents will run out of currency circulation as fast as it had happened before. Puntland State was unable to meet the challenges of demand and supply for it throughout Somalia, including Somaliland.
Moreover, it is unlikely that even Puntland residents would accept it to buy goods and services in the place of US dollars currently used throughout Somalia. It is a dollar based economy without being a part of the United States similar to the situations of a few other countries in the world.
In our view, for printing Somali currency, Puntland State Bank will be obliged to set exchange rates in foreign currency and be available to hand out hard earned US dollars to its customers and all residents and travellers in Puntland State. It is also necessary to absorb Puntland currency in circulation in foreign exchange from other regions of Somalia that Puntland traders and travellers used to buy goods and services outside the state. That is enough for printing of Somali shillings.
The alternative of Puntland State having its local currency printed and accepted like Somaliland’s is a rough ride to the declaration of unileral secession from the remaining parts of Somalia. Is this what we are talking about? That too won’t fly, for the Government of Puntland State can’t decide that alone without the overwhelming will of the residents of Puntland State. We are being entertained by wishful thinking of a leader, who, by the way in his 1st term, was solely responsible for undermining public trust in Somali shillings in the state in the first place. Stop kidding these guillable poor residents.
Warsame Policy & Media Network (WAPMEN) 