Postby Voltage » Tue Jan 29, 2008 7:39 pm
[quote="cabdallah252"]Puntland is more than 3 times richer than most of the south, and probably 12 or 13 times richer than Jubbaland/gedo (the poorest part of somalia with only a GDP per capita of around 150$)[/quote]
Funny you say that because reer Gedo traders make more money than even Hargeisa traders let alone dustry Boosaaso because Gedo was very unstable for the majority of the civil war, the money was invested elsewhere in Kenya and Kismaayo:
---" Some of the trade with neighbouring Ethiopia and Kenya takes the form of recorded trade via official crossing-points at Belet Hawa and El Waq on the border with Kenya and at Dolo on the border with Ethiopia. Considerable unofficial trade is also engaged in across the borders with both Kenya and Ethiopia. Extensive small trading goes on in all towns and villages as well.
Kenneth Menkhaus, Assistant Professor at Davidson College/UNDOS consultant, considered the Gedo region's economy to be in reasonably good shape and described trade in the region as "booming". Traders in Gedo made more profit than, for instance, those in Hargeisa, in north-western Somalia (Somaliland). He pointed out that the Gedo region was a centre for brisk trading between Somalia and Kenya or Ethiopia. Large quantities of goods were brought from Mogadishu to Bardera by lorry. Bardera, being the largest town in the Gedo region, formed the centre of that trade, with active flows of funds both from abroad and to and from Mogadishu.
Kenneth Menkhaus explained that the vast bulk of the capital built up in Bardera was channelled back to Mogadishu in order to bring in further goods from Mogadishu (and Merka). He regarded this as a clear sign of economic health, since the money remained in Somalia, while also pointing to his own surprise how little capital there actually was in the Gedo region. Virtually all capital had left the area, with the lack of capital plain to see, not least in Luuq. Kenneth Menkhaus reported people in Luuq to be poor, with hardly any money in circulation. He made it clear that the group of business people in possession of any sizeable trading capital was very small. He also regarded the Small Loan Fund (SLF) scheme run by the Somalia Rehabilitation Project (SRP) as very important for Gedo's economy. The vast majority of imported goods in Gedo come from Mogadishu, making the state of the roads and the security of Gedo's neighbouring regions vitally important if trade is to continue.
While in Luuq, the delegation visited a transhipment centre for imported goods from Mogadishu. The centre contained a number of trucks from Mogadishu, from which goods were transferred to what were referred to as "Marehan trucks". These then took goods on to destinations in Gedo. Luuq District Council reported that it had begun taxing trade in the area. Goods from Mogadishu and livestock transactions were taxed, with the tax revenue being used for purposes including police pay."---
