Somalia: New bank notes set to counter currency crisis

By Mohammed Dhaysane

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AA)- Somalia’s government is set to print modern bank notes for the first time in more than 25 years to end the currency crisis in the Horn of African nation, authorities said Thursday.

Bashir isse Ali, Somalia's Central Bank governor, told a news conference in Mogadishu that the bank will print new notes which incorporate modern financial security features.

"The Central Bank and related agencies are now in the process of coming up with new notes this year which will not be vulnerable to counterfeiting," he added.

The new notes will boast security features which meet international standards, he added.

According to the government, it will need $60 million to print the new currency.

A currency crisis is gripping large parts of the country, as the terrorist group al-Shabaab has banned Somalia's weak currency, according to the government.

Somalia, one of the poorest nations in the world, has been without real currency since 1991.