The currency used in Somalia is a Somali Shilling.The Central Bank Act – Decree Law No. 16 of 19/10/1968 mandates the Central Bank is the only first authority mandated to issue Somali currency bank notes and coins as legal tender.Currently the only Somali currency in use is the 1000 Shilling note first issued in 1990 and as a second issue in 1996.
The principal form of currency in Somalia has been base metallic coins, usually silver, and by the first half of the 19th century the main unit of currency was the Maria Theresa Thaler which was known in Somalia “Sharuq”. It was a coin containing four parts silver and one part copper, and has been issued by the Austrian Empire, in honor of the Empress Maria Theresa, who ruled Austria, Hungary and Bohemia from 1740 to 1780. It had gained acceptance in the Arabia Peninsula and in the Horn of Africa, Somalia, Ethiopia and Eritrea, as its high silver content satisfied the people’s desire for base coins.
There is no specific period that can be traced the starting era of the use of money metallic coins in Somalia, but from the history we acknowledged that the trade relations between the neighboring countries in the exchange of goods were based with the currencies used by those inhabitants of the region namely in the Arabian Peninsula and in India.
