Puntland’s regional government said it planned to introduce a new currency at the beginning of 2025, a move President Said Abdullahi Deni presented as a response to Somalia’s unresolved monetary problems and Puntland’s dependence on alternative payment arrangements.
Deni announced the plan in Garowe, according to regional news reports. Hiiraan Online reported that the Puntland state president said the currency was intended to strengthen the regional economy. The same report said Puntland stopped using the Somali shilling in 2021 and currently relies on the U.S. dollar as well as money borrowed from telecommunications companies.
Horseed Media reported that Puntland, a semi-autonomous state in northeastern Somalia, planned to introduce its own shilling by 2025 after years of waiting for Somalia’s federal authorities to establish a unified national currency. The outlet quoted Deni as saying Puntland had waited for a unified government to create a unified Somali shilling, but that such an outcome did not appear imminent.
The announcement sits within a wider monetary dispute in Somalia. Horseed Media reported that the Somali shilling has struggled since the collapse of the central government in the early 1990s, and that the country’s financial system remains fragmented despite later efforts to revive the Central Bank. The report also said U.S. dollars are heavily used in transactions, while mobile money has become an important financial tool for many Somalis in the absence of a more developed banking system.
Deni sought to frame the proposed currency as an economic measure rather than a political separation from Somalia. Horseed Media reported that he said federal countries elsewhere use more than one currency, and that the step did not signal a break from Somali unity. The report also said he described Puntland’s approach as temporary or conditional on broader national progress, with the regional currency expected to align with Somalia’s financial system if a national agreement is later reached.
The details of the planned currency were not fully set out in the available reports. Horseed Media said the Puntland government was conducting studies on implementation. Neither excerpt provided technical information on note issuance, exchange rules, monetary governance, legal tender status, reserve backing, or how the currency would interact with the U.S. dollar and mobile-money platforms already used in the region.
The decision, if implemented, would add a new layer to Somalia’s already fragmented financial landscape. Supporters may present the plan as a practical response to a stalled national monetary framework. Critics or federal authorities may scrutinize whether a regional currency could complicate future efforts to establish a single Somali monetary system. The available reports do not record a federal government response to Deni’s announcement.
