Galkayo (Halbeeg)- A rapidly devaluing and heavily counterfeited Somali shilling has forced a large percentage of the traders in Galkayo town to ditch the tattered paper currency for electronic mobile money transfer.
In recent months, Businessmen in the town have decided to use U.S. dollar for business transactions via EVCPLUS (an electronic Voucher Card) known as cash mobile wallet.
Noah Hassan Mohamud who is a trader in Galkayo town said the counterfeit had flooded the market leading the traders to count loses.
“We are retailers, the circulation of the shilling is controlled by the wholesalers and they are the ones rejected the shilling,” said Mohamud
The residents complain about the decision by the business community to shift dollar.
Residents now reporting an increase in the use of mobile money which is dominant across the region.
The e-payment transactions have had a devastating effect on poor families who have Somali shilling at home.
“I am a plumber, I have 300,000 Somali shillings but I cannot buy anything with it,” said Mohamed Mursal, a resident of Galkayo.
Fadumo Abdi, a butcher in Galkayo town said the rejection of Somali shillings affected her business as most of the customers are unable to buy the meat using U.S. currency.
“Most of my customers are poor and are unable to buy the meat,” said Abdi.
Al Shabaab in Hiraan region had previously banned the use of Somali shilling, forcing the businessmen and other locals in Alshabaab control areas to refuse the shillings.
The Somali economy has been dollarized in the decades following the collapse of the central government in the early 1990’s.
The U.S. dollar is widely used in Somalia for decades following the collapse of Somali central government led by Mohamed Siyad Barre in 1990s.
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