author: Tyler Durden
For decades, Muse Omar Jama made a surviving trading currencies at the Bakara marketplace in Mogadishu, where customers lined up to exchange Somali shillings for dollars and mobile money. Now his office is almost quiet, and the safes around him are filled with cash that no 1 wants, by The Guardian.
The problem began erstwhile traders in Somalia stopped taking utilized shilling bills, claiming that the bills were besides damaged to use. Boycott rapidly spread to shops, buses and businesses across the country, destroying the value of savings stored in local currency. Jama describes the shock without a doubt: "It's like we're going bankrupt overnight."
He can no longer trade shilling stacks arranged in his office for US dollars, and many erstwhile customers leave empty-handed. "I must reject them due to the fact that my safes, shelves and tables are already full of Somali shillings," he says.
The Guardian writesthat the crisis reflects the long-term transformation of Somalia towards a dollar-based economy. The country has not printed fresh banknotes since the overthrow of dictator Sita Barre in 1991, erstwhile the central bank collapsed. Since then, US dollars, hawala money transfers and mobile payments have increasingly replaced local currency.
These effects affected mediocre households the most. The prices of basic articles, specified as food, medicines, and transport, have increased dramatically — 1 tiny bag of powdered milk has reportedly doubled its price. Jama now travels 5 kilometres to work, as buses no longer accept shillings.
Vegetable seller Asha Ali Ahmed says that the change besides harmed tiny traders. Farmers in Afgoye now request mobile payments, which increases product prices in the Mogadishu markets. Due to the drought that already destroys crops, many customers can no longer afford basic food shopping.
According to the planet Food Programme, about 6.5 million people in Somalia are facing severe hunger, while 2 million children under the age of 5 are suffering from acute malnutrition.
The national government considered the Somali shillings' refusal to be a crime, but many traders uncertainty whether they are able to enforce the warrant. The jam remains pessimistic: "Million will suffer... More families will be plunged into poverty."
Translated by Google Translator
source:https://www.zerohedge.com/
