5 Lira – Italian Somaliland

In 1925, Italian Somaliland operated under a complex and transitional currency system, a direct legacy of its colonial administration. The official currency was the Italian lira, introduced to integrate the territory into Italy's economic sphere. However, the lira's circulation was largely confined to administrative centers, major ports like Mogadishu, and transactions involving the colonial government and Italian businesses. For the vast majority of the local population, the lira held little practical use in daily trade.

The real day-to-day monetary landscape was dominated by the Maria Theresa thaler (MTT), a silver coin minted in Austria but ubiquitous throughout the Horn of Africa for over a century. Its consistent silver content and wide acceptance made it the preferred store of value and medium of exchange for the Somali pastoral economy and caravan trade. Alongside the thaler, the Indian rupee and the British East African shilling also circulated, particularly in coastal areas and regions bordering British Somaliland and Kenya, reflecting the territory's deep connections to Indian Ocean trade networks.

This multi-currency environment presented significant challenges for the Italian authorities, who sought greater monetary control and economic extraction. The colonial administration fixed exchange rates between the lira and the thaler, but these were often arbitrary and failed to reflect market values, leading to distortions and informal trading. Thus, 1925 represents a period of contested monetary sovereignty, where the official Italian currency coexisted uneasily with stronger, regionally entrenched currencies, highlighting the limited penetration of colonial economic structures within the traditional Somali economy.