Few central bankers have jobs as tough as that of Abdusalam Omer, governor of the Central Bank of Somalia (CBS). While those in the developed world fret about their subdued economies and those in emerging markets worry about tightening monetary policy in the US, Mr Omer has to try and build an institution virtually from scratch in one of the world’s least developed and most dangerous countries.
Somalia’s state institutions collapsed when its ruling regime was overthrown in 1991, plunging the country into two decades of lawlessness and violence at the hands of warring clans and religious extremists.