The top United Nations official for Somalia has welcomed the country’s recent adoption of a federal budget as a major milestone in its economic development.
The Horn of African nation’s move brings it one step closer to gaining access to funds from international financial institutions.
The International Monetary Fund says Somalia owes US$5.2 B to its international creditors.
The Somali parliament approved a 2018 budget last week, and the US$274 M package is a significant step towards meeting the fiscal reform requirements of the IMF’s ‘Staff Monitored Program’ for country.
The SMP is designed to foster economic reconstruction efforts and enable countries to establish a track record of policy and reform implementation.
Somalia had already completed its first SMP in 2016-2017.
The country has been beset by a jihadist insurgency for the better part of a decade, crippling its development agenda, and forcing the government to focus almost entirely on security operations at the expense of other agenda.
Current President Mohamed Abdulahi ‘Farmajo’ has however vowed to crash the al-Shabaab group that has been behind the Islamist attacks in the country.
