Puntland’s Shrinking Budget Exposes a Deepening Crisis of Governance

With its 2027 budget down by nearly 34 per cent compared with 2025, Puntland faces mounting questions about its financial management and ability to fulfil basic state responsibilities. Civil servants reportedly go unpaid for an average of six months a year, while security forces continue to face irregular salaries.

Mogadishu (WDN) – Puntland’s approved budget for 2027 stands at $308.2 million, marking a further decline in the administration’s already shrinking financial resources. The figure is $7.6 million, or 2.4 per cent, below the $315.8 million budget approved for 2026. More significantly, it represents a dramatic contraction from the $466.8 million allocated in 2025.

The figures reveal a troubling financial trajectory. Puntland’s budget fell by 32.4 per cent between 2025 and 2026, followed by another reduction in 2027. In just two years, the administration’s annual budget has declined by approximately $158.6 million — a loss of nearly 34 per cent of its former financial capacity.

Puntland has attributed the sharp decline in 2026 largely to reduced funding for internationally supported projects. For 2027, the government says it intends to strengthen domestic revenue collection and exercise tighter control over public expenditure. These are necessary objectives, but they raise a more fundamental question: how can an administration with increasingly limited resources meet its obligations when it has struggled for years to pay its own workforce regularly?

The human cost of the financial decline

Civil servants reportedly spend an average of six months each year without receiving their salaries. For many government employees, this means working for months without reliable income, struggling to support their families and effectively financing the state’s operations through their unpaid labour.

The situation is equally concerning within Puntland’s security forces. Soldiers, whose responsibilities include defending the territory and maintaining public security, also face irregular salary payments. It is difficult to expect a professional, disciplined and dependable security force when those serving in its ranks cannot count on receiving their wages on time.

This is not simply a question of administrative inconvenience. Persistent salary arrears undermine public confidence, weaken institutional morale and threaten the government’s ability to deliver essential services and maintain security. A government that cannot consistently pay its employees or security personnel risks weakening the very institutions on which its authority depends.

The administration must therefore confront questions that go beyond the declining budget. How much revenue is actually being collected domestically? How is public money being prioritised and allocated? What measures are being taken to address unpaid salaries? And why have regular payments to civil servants and security personnel remained so difficult to guarantee?

External funding cuts may explain part of the decline, but they cannot become a permanent justification for the failure to meet basic government responsibilities. The government must demonstrate greater transparency in public spending, establish clear priorities and show the public how available resources are being used. Strengthening domestic revenue collection must also translate into tangible improvements in the government’s ability to meet its obligations.

Ultimately, Puntland’s financial challenge is no longer just about the size of its annual budget. It is about the capacity and credibility of the state. A government that approves budgets running into hundreds of millions of dollars while its employees remain unpaid for months must explain the gap between its financial plans and the reality facing its workforce.

A government is not measured simply by the size of the budget it approves, but by its ability to fulfil its most basic responsibilities. Civil servants should not be expected to work for half the year without pay, and soldiers should not be asked to defend their communities while uncertain when their next salary will arrive. If Puntland cannot guarantee these fundamental obligations, its shrinking budget risks becoming a much deeper crisis of governance, public confidence and institutional stability.

WardheerNews