Somalia. In this perspective, the government of the former Italian Somalia, led by Abdullahi Issa Mohamud, established the Somali National Bank (decree of 30 June 1960): the new bank would have carried out the central bank activities, previously done by the "Cassa for monetary circulation". Indeed the Italian government provided Somalia with technical and financial assistance and ordered the liquidation of the "Cassa". Furthermore, on 1 July 1960, the newly independent Republic of Somalia established that the "Banca Nazionale Somala" (National Bank of Somalia) to take over the activities of the "Cassa" and the Mogadishu branch of Banca d'Italia. The new bank combined central banking activities with commercial banking activities. During the 1950s, with UN aid money pouring in and the presence of experienced Italian administrators who had come to see the region as their home, infrastructural and educational development blossomed in the region. The decade passed relatively without incident, and was marked by positive growth in virtually all aspects of local life. Indro Montanelli wrote in the late 1990s (when Somalia was devastated by civil war) that the ten years of Italian Trusteeship were the Golden age of Somalia: the population nearly doubled, illiteracy was reduced by 60%, malnutrition in the rural areas disappeared, the economy soared to the same level of the most developed African countries and there was complete integration in religious and social-political matters between all Somalia inhabitants. The conditional return of Italian administration to southern Somalia gave the new trust territory several unique advantages compared with other African colonies. To the extent that Italy held the territory by UN mandate, the trusteeship provisions gave the Somalis the opportunity to gain experience in political education and self-government. These were advantages that British Somaliland, which was to be incorporated into the new Somali state, did not have. The Italian government under ONU mandate created in the early 1950s the "National Institute of Legal, Economic and Social Studies", as a post-secondary school in Italian language for pre-university studies in order to access the Italian universities. This Institute was the precursor of the Somali National University, that was the first high level education institution in the territory of Somalia. It was established in 1954 with the name: L'Universita' Nazionale Somala. In the Italian administered Somalia, the exports of sugar and banana reached record levels in 1959, facilitated also by the creation of the "Fiera della Somalia" (Somalia Fair) in