Date: 8th Dec 2013
PRESS RELEASE
The Managing Director of the Somali Economic Forum, Hassan M. Dudde was recently interviewed on the primetime Bloomberg TV programme; African Business Weekly whereby he highlighted and elaborated in depth the current economic prospects in Somalia.
Firstly, Hassan M. Dudde was questioned about the degree of political stability that Somalia has undergone recently especially with the utilisation of parliamentary constitutional methods to settle ongoing political issues. The SEF and Mr Dudde answered that they believe Somalia as a whole is benefiting from a renewed sense of security and optimism which has enabled skilled diaspora members to return. In addition, this increased vigour in economic and political fortunes of Somalia has had the combined effect of increasing the levels of inward Foreign Direct Investment and increasing the levels of business and consumer confidence within Somalia’s economy.
Moreover, Eleni Giokos, the host of the African Business Weekly programme inquired regarding the importance of remittances to Somalia’s economy and economic renaissance. In particular, the host touched on the recent landmark High Court ruling to keep Somali remittance companies open despite Barclays’ desire to close all of them. The Somali Economic Forum believe that the High Court ruling to enable Somali remittance companies to continue to operate is a positive and crucial step. The Somali Economic Forum believes that this ruling will enable people across Somalia to benefit from increased economic activity and continued diaspora investment to Somalia, especially considering that Somalia has one of the most economically active diaspora communities in Africa.
In addition, Hassan M. Dudde and the Somali Economic Forum detailed in great depth the recent natural resource boom in Somalia which has led to sustained interest in Somalia’s oil and gas sector.
As Hassan M. Dudde stated in the interview; “Somalia’s oil and gas industry is on the radar of all major multinational oil exploration firms and majors” and above all else is a sign that Somalia as an
economy is open for business. The Somali Economic Forum have documented that Somalia holds an estimated 100 billion barrels of oil. Due to this intriguing statistic the Somali Economic Forum believes that Somalia’s natural resources could prove to have a transformative effect on the general economy serving to increase job creation and FDI.
Finally, the host questioned the Somali Economic Forum regarding poverty alleviation and development in Somalia. As Hassan M. Dudde touched on so eloquently; Somalia as a nation is more than just another news story on poverty or extremism. Rather, Somalia as an economy is at a transformative stage and this media focus should therefore shift towards the rapid socio-economic change which is taking place across Somalia whereby there is increased investment, along with ever rising levels of FDI. Hassan M. Dudde touched on how the Somali Economic Forum’s key objective is to promote the positive economic trend that is taking place across Somalia and to bridge the information gap for local and international investors and stakeholders. In particular, the Somali Economic Forum was able to successfully do this through the Somalia Investment Summit (SIS) in Nairobi, Kenya in July 2013 and Hassan M. Dudde touched on how the next Somalia Investment Summit (SIS) will be based in Dubai on 7th-8th April 2014 with tickets currently on sale at the Somali Economic Forum website.
Mariam Farah
Admin & Communications
m.f@somalieconomicforum.org
