MOGADISHU,(insidesomalia.org)- Somalia’s transitional federal government says it is in the process of printing new Somali Shillings to replace the old Shilling, according to the country’s head of the Central Bank.

Mr. Bashir Isse told a Tuesday press conference in the capital Mogadishu that the Somali government is not responsible for hyperinflation that has adversely affected the Horn of Africa’s fragile economy in recent months.

“We will soon print new money to replace [currency] being used now,” Mr. Isse told journalists, while underlining that the government has “no plans” to replace the Somali Shilling with the Ethiopian birr.

Yesterday, a spokesman for the al Shabaab guerrillas fighting to topple Somalia’s Ethiopian-backed transitional government alleged that the Shilling has been severely devalued to pave the way for replacement with the birr.

But Mr. Isse, the Central Bank director, was unequivocal in his stance that the interim government desires to uplift the economy by replacing old Shillings, which have been duplicated numerous times in recent years by warlords and disreputable businessmen.

He indicated that the Somali government is in contract with a credible international company, which will print unique Shillings that will be difficult to duplicate.

In several cities across Somalia, including Mogadishu in the south and Bossaso in the north, money changers closed their doors and have refused to accept worn-out Shillings.

In some extreme cases, money changers in the central town of Beletwein told Garowe Online that they have been issued written threats by unidentified people to lower the exchange rate or face “appropriate consequences.”

According to the threats, Beletwein money changers were ordered to exchange 100 US dollars for 2,600,000 Shillings, instead of the market-value exchange rate of 3,000,000 Shillings.

Somalia's Central Bank chief made no mention of Somali Shillings being printed domestically and flooded throughout local markets, leading to record-prices for food and other necessary goods.

In Puntland, in the country's northeast, reliable sources have reported that the regional administration and allied business interests have resumed printing false Shillings.

But the Puntland Ministry of Finance issued a press statement Tuesday dismissing the reports as fabrication and reiterating that the Puntland government has completely stopped its money-printing activities.

Source: Garowe Online

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