Somaliland Potential For Foreign Direct Investment.

0
Tuesday October 01, 2019 - 18:20:01 in Articles by Hadhwanaag News
  • Visits: 1499
  • (Rating 0.0/5 Stars) Total Votes: 0
  • 0 0
  • Share via Social Media

    Somaliland Potential For Foreign Direct Investment.

    By : Awale Shirwa BA, PGDip, Msc. Trade and Investment Analyst and Former Minister of Planning for Somaliland.

    Share on Twitter Share on facebook Share on Digg Share on Stumbleupon Share on Delicious Share on Google Plus

By : Awale Shirwa BA, PGDip, Msc. Trade and Investment Analyst and Former Minister of Planning for Somaliland.


 

·        Business

·        Economics

·        Banking

·        Money

·        Markets

·        Project Syndicate

·        B2B

 

Latest financial, market & economic news and analysis | Business

 

Somaliland fulfilled many of the basic requirements to attract foreign direct investment and winning investor confidence.

Stability, strategic location, government pro-Investments policies are good Ingredients to attract foreign investors. Horn of African Country (Somaliland, separated from the Former Somali Republic after the collapse of the union in 1991). In the three past decadesit made notable progresses in manyfronts. Stability, Democratic Process, Rule of Law and Economic dev’t.




 

Twenty years ago Somaliland was a countryemerging from a civil war, there were hardly good schools, hospitals and parts of the country was not easily accessible. Access to clean water,health and educationwere difficult. Today, Somaliland is an stable, democratic and prosperous country, its economy is growing very fast thanks to a booming private sector. The private sector in Somaliland is the fastest growing private sector in the region. Nearly more then quarter century on from the collapse of the "Somali Republic and The Re-Birth of Somaliland Republic”, Somaliland has more going for it than any of its neighboring countries i.e Yemen, Somalia. The future of this young country is bright and foreign investors are beginning to see that Somaliland is potential destination for their investments.

The fundamentals (to attract FDI) are certainly in place in Somaliland. Somaliland is a country with a population of 3.5 millionpeople, half of whom are a working age and two thirds are under 35 years old. The young generation are relatively well educated and ambitious. Country’s GDP is growing at 3% a year1 and is expected to continue doing so for the coming few years.In large the growth is driven by the unregulated economy (private sector) and increasing inflow of foreign direct investment, notablythe heavy investment from Dubai for their operation in Berbera Port, Corridor and Berbera Airport. The return of diaspora population is also having a positive impact in the local economy. Diaspora population not only brought back capital but they are creating new opportunities and transferring of the much






needed skills that was missing in the country in the past. The recently restored    livestock     export     can    boost     the     economy  significantly.


Following the improvement of the Berbera Port Capacity, the goods flow from Berbera to mainland Ethiopia has increased exponentially, as a result more jobs are likely to be created, other businesses will see the benefits from the increased economic activity (movement of goods and people), government itself will see increasedrevenues which it can use to invest in the public infrastructure. DP world invested heavily in Berbera port in the hope that the already booming and purchasing power of Ethiopian population is continuing to increase in the foreseeable future. Ethiopian economy is not showing any sign of slowing down, and if the countryavoids internal political instability, it will need more corridors as Djibouti is almost operating at its maximum capacity and the demand for more importsis becoming inevitable as more and more Ethiopians start seeing increasing income which will increase the demand of goods.This presents huge opportunities for Somaliland         and         its         foreign         and         domestic      investors.



The other attraction for foreign investors considering to investin Somaliland is the, unsurprisingly, the cheap labor. The main attraction is however the geography. Somaliland is located Ethiopia’s eastern flank; it has access to that country’s massive consumer market. With the long coastline, too, Somaliland has the potential to create smaller and functioning ports which can serve fisheries industry. Somaliland’s infrastructure is relatively poor but it is recently improving, Berbera Corridor, Erigavo Road, Rehabilitation of Burao-Berbera Road, Potential Djibouti-Borama Road, Telecomis owned by the private sector and access to internet and telephone is not expensive compare to the other countries in the region. The number of flights are growing, the upgrade of Berbera International Airport has been completed, the capacity of Egal Airport has also improved in the past years and so the number of airlinesand flights. Internetusage and access is the highest in the region, energy is relatively expensive but solar energy infrastructure is becoming widely available and if this trend of using alternative energy continues its likely the energy costs will decrease.

Another Somaliland’s attraction is the relatively political stability. Somaliland has no external debt which is a positivething, but thereare areas of concern which can put off foreign investors namely, currency stability, inflation. The domestic consumption is also growing as the rate of urbanization is growing rapidly,estimated figure is putting urbanization rate at 50%. For investors watching Somaliland, key development will be the completion of the Berbera Port Upgrade, Berbera International Airport, Berbera Corridor And The early successes of the new investments i.e Cement Factory in Sahil Region, And Other Middle Size investments made in recent years, if all the above ventures fair fairly then it’s inevitable we will see more and more inflow of foreign direct investment in Somaliland in the coming few years.

 

Mr Awale. I. Shirwa BA, PgDip, Msc

Researcher,Economic Development Analyst ( Horn of Africa Specialist).

Former Minister of Planning

Somaliland Republic of Somaliland.

Tel : +447404029548/+252636473706

 

Loading...
Loading...