20 Shilin Soomaali / Somali Shillings

The P#29 series — running across denominations from the early 1980s — was issued during a period when the Somali shilling was under severe pressure from the structural adjustment demands of the IMF and a deteriorating balance of payments tied partly to the 1977–78 Ogaden War's aftermath. Somalia had taken on substantial refugee burden costs following the conflict with Ethiopia, and foreign exchange reserves were critically depleted by the time this note entered circulation.

The single watermark security feature was already considered minimal by early 1980s standards, and the notes were vulnerable to relatively crude counterfeiting. By 1990, with the Barre government collapsing, the central bank itself had effectively ceased to function.