Wednesday June 25, 2025
By Mohamed Sh Omar Ibrahim
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Somalia has reached a historic milestone. On December 13, 2023, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank confirmed Somalia hit the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) completion point, reducing external debt from 64 percent of GDP in 2018 to under
6 percent by end-2023—signifying $4.5 billion in debt relief. That achievement was bolstered in early 2024 when the Paris Club erased 99 percent of a $2 billion bilateral, and in late 2024, the US cancelled another $1.14 billion, accounting for roughly a quarter of outstanding debt.
But debt relief is not the destination—it’s a launchpad. The critical question now: what comes next for Somalia? Success hinges on…