Biggest donor Turkey stops direct budget support to Somalia

Mogadishu (KON) - Turkey has stopped direct budgetary support to Somalia, cutting off a major source of funding for a government trying to rebuild the country after more than two decades of chaos.

News Keydmedia Online
14 February 2014

Turkey is a key ally of the Somali government. Its vast humanitarian aid effort at the height of the 2011 famine has endeared the country to many Somali people, especially as Ankara continues to build hospitals and dispatch aid across Somalia.

Turkey has backed the Somali government with direct cash aid, in contrast to Western governments who have pledged billions but not in the form of direct budget support.

A Turkish foreign ministry official told Reuters direct budget support payments stopped at the end of 2013.

It is not clear how much cash Turkey donated to Somalia in 2013, when the government budget totalled $110 million.

Somalia