Debt relief is just the beginning of real change for Somalia. The country has been suffocating under the huge weight of unsustainable debt for more than three decades. Between 2012 to February 2017, when I led the first internationally recognised government since the collapse of the state in 1991, we realised quickly that we had to re-engage with all the international financial institutions and our bilateral and multilateral creditors to address this crippling impediment to our economic development.
Somalia owed more than $5bn (3.9bn). And the interest and charges on these debts kept mounting. As a new government in a post-conflict state, fighting international terrorism, but with the ambition to rebuild Somalia, we had to act.
There was n…
Read the full article at: https://www.theguardian.com/world/commentisfree/2023/dec/13/somalia-has-reached-its-debt-relief-milestone-now-the-real-work-begins