Foreign trade

In the late 1980s Somalia's exports totaled about US$60 million annually, and imports about US$247.8 million. The chief exports were livestock and banana. Other exports included meat, fish, leather, and wood.

The principal imports were foodstuffs, chemicals, machinery, textiles, and petroleum.

Somalia's major trading partners are Italy, Ethiopia, Great Britain, Germany, Kenya, the United States and China. Traditionally the most important trading partners in agriculture have been Italy and Saudi Arabia.

According to IMF figures, the trade deficit of Somalia in 1991 stood at $1.632 billion.