Coins of Somaliland

[Figleaf]

Another source of confusion is the multiple use of "Somali" is the names of territories, so for clarity, this thread is on a breakaway province of Somalia, which has a claim on the area, especially as international recognition for the country has been low.

One of the reasons behind Somaliland's separatism is that it has a continuous British colonial history, as shown on the denomination on the coins, while the history of Somalia is more chequered, with Italian and French influences as well as Arab and Ethiopian competition for land. These are very well explored in Wikipedia, so I need not dwell on them, except to say that these issues kept Somalia politically unstable and violence prone, up to the point of what amounts to NATO intervention against piracy in the Red Sea.

If Somaliland is the stable (and more democratic) part of the area, it surprises that the currency is subject to bouts of inflation (hyperinflation is too strong a word). The cause of the apparent contradiction is lack of domestic resources (they have a lot of nothing). Volatile weather conditions can cause famine. Japanese vacuum-cleaning "fishing" in the Red Sea basically destroyed the local fishing industry. Transport disruption by COVID-19 and Russian blocking of Ukrainian grain shipments are as many disasters for the Somaliland economy. That has direct consequences for the purchasing power of the SOS. At present, 1 000 shillings will buy around €1.60. It is clear that the coins play no role of consequence in such circumstances.

Peter

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RELATED TOPICS

Coinage of modern Somalia

Coinage of the Trust Territory of Somaliland, 1950

Somalia: 5 senti variations of 1976

Somali schizophrenia