Al-Shabaab has grown its revenues despite increased attacks from the Somali National Army (SNA) and African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) troops.
In a report by Hiraal Institute, the militia group now earns around $15 million each month. It gets over 50 percent of this from its operations in Mogadishu alone.
Hiraal Institute said that the group’s ability to earn more revenue is a “worrying trend.”
Furthermore, the Institute’s latest report shows that the Al-Qaeda linked group has “improved its tax collection capacity significantly in the last two years.”
Hiraal Institute prepared the report after interviewing government employees and businesspeople from different parts of the country.
It interviewed representatives of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Somalia too.
The interviews were conducted between June and October 2020.
As per the report and analysis by security experts in the region, Al-Shabaab retains control of large swathes of land in central and southern Somalia.
