Businesses
came to a halt in the Somali capital's main Bakara market
on Thursday following the arrival of billions of counterfeit
Somali banknotes which flooded into the market last night.
A large
consignment of Somali banknotes worth over 2.5 million U.S.
dollars were escorted to the market by over 70 battle wagons
and more than 500 heavily armed militiamen after two medium-sized
planes carrying the banknotes landed in Ballidogleh airport,
about 90 kilometers south of the capital on Wednesday afternoon.
The money,
which is printed in Ottawa, Canada, will be used for the encouragement
of the peace in Mogadishu and will not hurt the economy or
cause a serious inflation, according to the businessmen owning
the money.
Nonetheless,
the impact of the arrival of the money is already hampering
the smooth flow of the business activities after the money
traders stopped exchanging any more money and the owners of
main food stores refused to accept Somali shillings in selling
out their goods.
The U.S.
dollar, which has been loosing ground against the Somali shillings
since the inauguration of Somalia's transitional parliament
in Djibouti last Sunday, is now regaining strength after this
new shipment arrived last night.
The exchange
rate fell to more than 1050 shillings to one dollar Thursday
from 930 shillings to one dollar Wednesday.
It is
believed that the Somali shilling will further devaluate once
the newly printed money hits the markets in the next few days.
The Muslim
scholars in Mogadishu have condemned the act of printing the
fake money and blamed the countries that helped such businessmen
for being behind what they called the dirty business of helping
Somali civil strive to continue.
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