MOGADISHU – Somalia’s government is on the brink of bankruptcy after donor nations suspended budget support, Finance Minister Abdirahman Bayle said on Saturday, after the country’s international partners decided not to back president Farmajo’s “power grab attempts”.
Mr Bayle stressed that donor nations had earlier cut budget funding to the federal government and that the last remaining funds from Saudi Arabia and Qatar to help the administration pay its employees have ended in December and January.
“The world suspended budget funding money they used to give us, we paid employees with some [funds] from Saudi Arabia and Qatar and that too ended in December and January. Were are now on the brink,” Somali Minister of Finance Abdirahman Bayle said.
The minister urged Somali diaspora to raise funds and support his government financially, though the administration of president Farmajo, whose term ended several months ago, faces a long-simmering resentment over its efforts to stay in power after polls were delayed.