The new WB release on its grant support to the FGS supports my understanding of what is going on in Somalia.
1- Population growth is about~3 according to the WB, I would estimate it closer to 4%.
2- WB is projecting 3.5% - 4.5% economic growth from now to 2022. This means that the most important thing, gdp per capita, will grow only 0.5% to
1.5% yearly in the best case. This is basically stagnation.
3- Food production in Somalia has declined by 40% in the past 12 years. Production in Southern Somalia is getting lower every year, and Somaliland has fallen out of the picture. Keep in mind that the Gu 2018 was t
he best Gu in over 20 years. Yet crop production in Southern Somalia went up
only 17%, and it
fell by 58% in Somaliland.
Even though more rain fell in 2018 than in any other year since 1998, crop production is basically stagnant in the short term and falling in the medium to long term. You are starting to see the effects of land degradation. Degraded land is not capable of providing much room for increased production even when rainfall is more than adequate.
2002 and 2010, both years with significantly less rainfall than 2018, had much larger crops than 2018.
Somalia is basically exporting livestock to pay for its grain. It will soon start importing more grain than it is exporting livestock, relying on aid and remittances to fund this trade deficit. This is one of the more dangerous dynamics at play in Somalia, because global grain prices fluctuate wildly. The next famine may come about as a result of a sharp increase in global grain prices.
A summary of all this is that Somalia is getting worse and worse every year and is falling further and further behind its neighbors.