Armies of Liberation

Yemnn Economic Update is a quarterly report issued by the World Bank consisting several sections, highlighting major political and social and macroeconomic developments. It also covers structural reforms and developments and conferences and donors activities in Yemen.Here are some extracts of the lates report for summer 2008.

Recent global increase in food prices is jeopardizing political stability and aggravating the poverty situation in Yemen.

Yemen, which is a large net food importer (about 75% of food is imported), is facing severe political and social consequences as a result of rising global food inflation. With an estimated 35% of Yemen population living below poverty line, the increase in global food prices, estimated by 60 percent between 2007 and 2008, is likely to have aggravated the poverty situation, particularly for the poor in urban areas, and the landless and small and marginal farmers. Estimates put the number Yemeni who have fallen below the poverty level as a result of recent price increase by at least 6 percent. Spiraling prices and increased poverty is also feeding into increased social tensions and instability in Yemen, with implications ranging from curtailed political freedoms to reactionary measures that will undermine the reform agenda, particularly with respect to reducing public spending on wages, and subsidies on food and fuel.

(Read on …)

from The Economist:

A fantastic plan to span the Red Sea’s troubled waters is raising eyebrows

ONE OF Osama bin Laden’s many half-brothers, Tarek bin Laden, this week signed a deal with tiny Djibouti which may—or may not—mark the start of one of the world’s boldest engineering projects. Djibouti’s president, Ismael Omar Guelleh, promised Mr bin Laden 500 sq km (193 sq miles) of land to start building Noor City, the first of a hundred “Cities of Light” the vast Saudi Binladen Group plans around the world. “A hope for all humanity, the first environmental city of the 21st century,” gushed the promotional video at the signing. The audience, mostly American military contractors near retirement age, clapped enthusiastically. Engineers elsewhere say the scheme is a fantasy.

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Military spending is a line item in the budget.

TMQ2

Uganda 2.2% (2006)
Ukraine 1.4% (2005 est.)
United Arab Emirates 3.1% (2005 est.)
United Kingdom 2.4% (2005 est.)
United States 4.06% (2005 est.)
Uruguay 1.6% (2006)
Uzbekistan 2% (2005 est.)
Vanuatu NA
Venezuela 1.2% (2005 est.)
Vietnam 2.5% (2005 est.)
West Bank NA
World roughly 2% of gross world product (2005 est.)
Yemen 6.6% (2006)
Zambia 1.8% (2005 est.)
Zimbabwe 3.8% (2006)

First report from Mujawar’s government

Yemen Observer:

Prime Minister Ali Mohammed Mujawar read a statement at a Parliament’s session attended by most of the ministers on the state of the Yemeni economy and the security situation. The report said that Yemen achieved a rate of 3.2 percent in economic growth during 2006, which increased to 3.6 last year, despite the drop in oil production. The non-oil sectors achieved development rates during the two previous years of 4.7 and 5.5 consecutively.

(Read on …)

Yemen Observer:

Unemployment in Yemen currently affects around 44 percent of people that have completed middle school and 54 percent of those holding bachelor degrees. It has thus become one of the main obstacles and an important challenge for the national development of the Republic of Yemen, as well as a priority in the Government’s political agenda, both at the regional and the international level. Amat al-Razaq Hummad, Minister of Social Affairs and Labor stressed these facts during the launch of the National Strategy workshop for held in Sana’a last Tuesday.

(Read on …)

News Yemen

DJIBOUTI, NewsYemen

Chairman of the Middle East Development Company, Tarek Mohammed Bin Laden, half-bother of Osama bin Laden, said that “competition on building a bridge across the Red Sea to link Africa with the Arabian Peninsula is going on”.

In a press conference held on Monday in Djibouti on launching the project and attended by Djibouti’s Prime Minister Deleita Mohammed Deleita, Bin Laden said the project, to be implemented in five years, will absorb one million Yemeni workers and 500,000 Djiboutian.

Bin Laden talked about contacts with international investors who will join the project and said the bridge would be “a historical engineering design that will help revive for economics in Africa and Middle East.”

Executive engineer in the Annor Holding Company Mohammed Ahmad al-Ahmad said the plan for establishing two cities, to be called Madinat An Nor, one in the Yemeni side and the other will be in the Djiboutian side, and linking them by the bridge was implemented.

“International investors used to invest in markets of Brazil, Russia, India and China, but now they have to know the emerging markets are in Middle East and Africa. The two cities to be linked with the bridge will support economic growth in such markets for the upcoming generations”, said al-Ahmad.

Djibouti Prime Minister Deleita said at the conference that the project of linking Djibouti to Yemen by a hanging bridge “will change traditional ways of traveling between Asia and Africa”. He said that million of Muslims in Africa will be able to get to the holy places easily through the bridge.

Known as “the bridge of the century”, the project will start in 2009.

It would include a motorway and rail links, and two luxury cities would be built on either side of the Red Sea.

Sheikh Tarek Mohammed bin Laden, 60, has so far won backing and pledges of land from the presidents of both countries after shuttling between the capitals in his private jet in recent weeks, outlining his plans.

In an interview posted on the project’s website, he talked of his vision, saying the city to be built on the Djibouti coast and called Madinat An Nor (City of Light) would create 100,000 jobs and stretch more than 970sqkm.

The bridge, spanning the strait of Bab el Mandeb (Gate of Tears), which owes its name to its perilous waters, would take nine years to build and cost $23.4billion.

Designs show a 3.2km viaduct from the Yemeni coast to the island of Perim, where it passes for another 3.2km before a final 21km stretch to Ras Siyyan in Djibouti. This will have as its centrepiece a 12.8km suspension bridge towering above the sea. Up to 100,000 cars and 50,000 train passengers a day would be able to cross one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes.

More than 200 businessmen and 60 journalists from Yemen and other Arab countries attended the conference.

The US financial assessment team found efforts to counter money laundering are in their infancy, or non-existent. Parliament is stalling the bill because it will restrict the transfer of charity funds and/or to “legitimate resistance” like Hamas.

SANA’A, July 23 (Saba) - Plans the Yemeni government has taken to fight money laundering and terrorism finance and preventing the establishment of unlicensed currency exchange companies helped revive the currency exchange during the last ten years, a report has said.

The report issued by the Yemen Central Bank noted that the exchange companies number has more than doubled in a decade. This number increased from 210 to 528. The improvement came as the government introduced a new law for combating money laundering and terrorist finance that is yet to be approved by the parliament.

According to the report, the Yemen Central Bank makes it compulsory for exchange companies to present detailed information about their banking services. The bank increased these companies capital to YR 20 million to increase their annual fees to YR 1 million and the individual institutions to YR 150.000.

Theres corruption and then theres grand corruption, elite capture of the vast majority of national resources and wealth on an organized and methodical basis. The best report ever I think was the Journalists Against Corruption report Available here. This YO report is a tad confusing on what the numbers mean:

Tender corruption is currently costing millions of dollars worth of public wealth. This came in a statement for the Supreme National Authority for Combating Corruption (SNACC) manager, Ahmed al-Anisi, at a debate organized by the al-Saeed establishment last Thursday.

Al-Anisi said that they cooperated with other authorities to issue cabinet resolutions to cancel all private authorizations. Al-Anisi helped in controlling some important corruption cases, pointing out that both public and opposition press were their source for discovering some of the corruption cases, mentioning the atomic energy case as an example. He reviewed their achievements as realized in the discussion of the scholarship case and the deductions on the students’ bursaries at the higher Education Ministry.

He ensured the recovery of YR 2 billion and YR 600,000, with several cases being referred to prosecution following long tedious procedures….

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Flight Global

Yemen’s Felix Airways has ordered eight Bombardier CRJ700 aircraft, powered by CF34-8C engines. The engine order is valued at more than $90 million and delivery will begin in September 2008. Felix Airways is a new private airline based in Yemen and will operate domestic routes previously served by Yemen Airways together with additional regional routes.

Yemen’s fleet deal

Yemen’s eponymous national flag carrier has selected Pratt & Whitney global service partners for a 10-year, $90-million fleet management programme agreement. The deal covers all engine maintenance and engine health monitoring for the ‘owned’ Airbus A310 aircraft in Yemen Airways’ fleet powered by Pratt & Whitney PW4000 engines. Yemen Airways has three owned Airbus A310s in its long-haul fleet, operating from its main base in Sana’a and a hub in Aden. The airline flies to more than 30 destinations in Africa, the Middle East, Europe and Asia.

YO

The government approved in its cabinet regular meeting held on Tuesday a budget of youth summer camps for 2008 and its general program to be launched on July 17th across the country.

The camps are 31 and contain 718 centers, 382 for males and 134 for females, 48 centers for educating religious duties, 30 for female scouts, 34 for vocational training, 34 for educating in computer science and languages, 58 for sports and 8 centers for university students. More than 200 thousand male and female participants will make use of these 40-day long camps.

There are also 600 centers for educating 100 thousands students on memorizing the Holy Koran in the capital Sana’a and in other governorates around the country.

Numismaster

Yemen has the distinction of being the last sizable nation in the world to issue its own paper money, the first issues of this nation of at least 21 million persons not appearing until 1964. Until fairly recently paper money did not circulate and was not accepted over most of the Arabian Peninsula, and not only Yemen but also Saudi Arabia were very late in issuing their own paper money, the first Saudi notes appearing only in 1953. Well into the 1950s two different trade coins dominated the currency in these countries. One was the gold sovereign weighing 7.98 grams and minted in 22 karat (0.9167 fine) gold. Most of these were minted in Great Britain or in South Africa, but in 1951 Saudi Arabia issued a large number of gold “guineas” that were at par with the British sovereign. The other coin that saw even greater circulation was the Maria Theresa thaler, which had been struck for many years in Austria, always with a frozen date of 1780. These coins each weigh 28.07 grams (about 5 percent more than an American silver dollar) and are struck in 0.833 fine silver. Demand for these coins has sometimes been so great that strikings were occasionally made in mints situated well away from Austria. Typically about a dozen Maria Theresa thalers would have been worth a gold sovereign, but this rate varied a bit depending upon the relative values of gold and silver. In Arabic the thaler is referred to as a riyal or rial, and this is the name used by both Yemen and Saudi Arabia for their currency units.

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USD 143 million? Its low. Maybe thats just new investment.

Yemen allocates $143 million for defence and security
Sunday, 08-June-2008
Al-Motamar
Almotamar.net - An official report mentioned Sunday that Yemen has allocated $143 million and 370 thousand for defence and security, as part of an investment programme for the year 2008.
According to the report obtained by almotamar.net the process of financing is allocated to implement a number of institutional projects aimed at strengthening capabilities of the Coast Guard by installation of new security observation centres in the border areas, improvement of the level of services offered to crossing of ships of the Yemeni coasts in addition to enhancement of protection of security and military positions. The programme includes also the purchase of mechanizations and equipment and the development of communication networks of the security apparatuses besides the establishment of residential buildings and police stations in various governorates.

Dijbouti is a very poor nation as well

Bin Laden Seeks $190 Billion for Yemen, Africa Cities (Update1)

By Will McSheehy and Matthew Brown

June 2 (Bloomberg) — Middle East Development LLC, the Dubai-based construction company controlled by a half-brother of Osama Bin Laden, will seek to raise about $190 billion to build two new cities in Djibouti and Yemen and a bridge linking them.

Tarek Mohammad Bin Laden will provide at least $10 billion of seed financing for the $200 billion project, Issam Halabi, Middle East Development’s vice president of technical affairs, told reporters at a conference organized by the Middle East Economic Digest in Dubai today.

“The Bin Ladens are originally from Yemen, and this is part of Sheikh Tarek’s desire to fight poverty and encourage trade,” Halabi said.

As oil earnings spur economic growth in the Persian Gulf, governments and investors are building new cities to create jobs for the region’s burgeoning population and attract inward investment. The $120 billion King Abdullah Economic City project in Saudi Arabia is the region’s biggest, followed by Kuwait’s $86 billion Silk City project, according to Dubai-based research company Proleads.

Yemen, the poorest Gulf state, faces Djibouti across the Red Sea and has attracted investment from neighbors including Qatar’s state-owned Qatari Diar Real Estate Co. and Dubai-owned port operator DP World Ltd. DP World also has a management contract for Djibouti’s sea port, and last year Dubai-owned investment company Istithmar PJSC bought a stake in the east African state’s Daallo Airlines in a bet on increasing trade and travel between the Gulf and east Africa.

Sea Bridge

Construction of a 28.5 kilometer bridge linking Yemen and Djibouti is due to begin next year and the project will take about 15 years to complete, Halabi said. The bridge is being designed to carry road vehicles, trains, and pipes for gas and water, he said.

The new cities in Yemen and Djibouti are intended to attract manufacturing, technology and leisure ventures, and companies including Bechtel Group Inc., Hewlett-Packard Co. and Ericsson AB have expressed interest in the project, according to Halabi.

Tarek Bin Laden shares the same father as Osama Bin Laden. Mohammed, their late Yemen-born father, emigrated to Saudi Arabia and founded the family’s Saudi Binladin Group construction empire.

Middle East Development has projects in Saudi Arabia, Dubai and Bahrain and a publicly-traded unit in Singapore, according to its Web site.

Released unharmed

Reuters

SANAA (Reuters) - Two Japanese tourists were kidnapped in the town of Marib in Yemen on Wednesday, a provincial government official said.

The official said the kidnappers were believed to be tribesmen and the two women were part of a group of five tourists sightseeing near the old dam of Marib, a major tourist attraction.

“They took them in their vehicle and kicked away their Yemeni driver,” he said.

Scores of holidaymakers and foreigners working in Yemen have been kidnapped over the past decade by tribesmen demanding better schools, roads and services, or the release of prisoners. Most have been released unharmed.

A Yemeni tribe abducted two foreign engineers and their Yemeni driver last year after a dispute between a local contractor and the hostages’ employer.

Saba

Gulf investors rescue Yemeni bank from bankruptcy

[25 April 2008]

HODEIDAH, April 25 (Saba)- Gulf investors have rescued a Yemeni bank from bankruptcy after an embezzlement of about $5 million by an employee of the bank’s branch in the province of Hodeidah.

Informed sources were quoted by the Saudi al-Eqtesadiah daily as saying that the bank’s management resorted to the Gulf investors to end the impasse in order not to repeat the tragedy of the National Bank of Yemen, which was declared its bankruptcy by the Central Bank of Yemen.

The sources said that the Gulf investors have variable rates of the bank’s capital after its board has been changed.

In Yemen, there are currently over 16 Yemeni, Arab and foreign banks.

YT

The skyrocketing prices of wheat, cereals, and other grains have had a tremendous impact on populations reliant on the international markets to supply the needed grains, and Yemen has been affected significantly where the price of a 50-kg sack of wheat has increased from 3300 in the end of 2007 to over 7200 today. This increase affects primarily families which spend most of their income on basic foods and necessities, and now having to stretch their budgets more in order to be able to continue to afford buying the same quantities of food.

In explaining the bigger picture, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) indicated that the growth in global demand for grains is increasing by 3 %, while production is at lower rates, and have increased to 2.6% this year as grain producing countries slightly increase their grain plantations. This indicates that the gap in supply will continue to push the prices of grain higher, forcing grain importing countries like Yemen to rather pay a bigger bill or start searching for other sources of grain, including reliance on domestic production.

(Read on …)

Off the top of my head, over one billion is owed to Russia for arms purchases and over two billion in soft loans unspent

26 September Net

SANA’A - Until end of 2007, the total external debt of Yemen reached $ 5.8 billion, an official report says.

During its weekly meeting, the cabinet listened to the report on Yemen’s external debt presented by ministry of finance.

According to the report, the debt’s level is in the safe side due to the good policy adopted in running such debts.

Still not going to the highest bidder, wonder why?

Yemen Post

In a symposium organized by Al-Tagheer.net, economic experts stressed that government should bring the agreement relating to operating and developing Aden Container Terminal before parliament for discussion, and demanded it to act responsibly with this issue because the terminal is of vital economic importance to the country.

The participants also demanded the government to reconsider all agreements as to operating Aden Container Terminal, hinting all the previous agreements are not binding to the country because they harm its interest.

They further stressed that an international tender for operating Aden Terminal should be announced through which qualified and eligible companies can bid, maintaining that the bidding process should be conducted according to the tenders law, together with presenting it to parliament for approval.

Several papers have been presented during the symposium including one paper by Ayman Mohammed Nasser who pointed out that bidding or buying the government institutions should be referred to parliament for approval and later a republican decree should come next.

Political science professor Abdullah Al-Faqih warned against the new agreement signed with Dubai Ports Authority, stressing the agreement wastes Yemen’s financial rights. He also indicated that partnership of 50 percent of profits is not beneficial, and maintained this could lead other bidding companies to sue the Yemeni government.

Al-Faqih added that the bidding of the three companies was as follows:

1. Kuwaiti alliance with $462 million.

2. Philippines International Services with $451 million.

3. Dubai Ports with $297 million, hinting the best bid was offered by the Kuwaiti company and instead of declaring it as the successful bidder or having negotiations, Yemeni government decided to re-ask for new tenders.

In return, former Member of Parliament Salim bin Talib declared that the government withdrew the agreement from parliament in an effort to pass the agreement away from the parliament‘s control, adding that any agreement like that of Aden Terminal should not be signed only under the approval of parliament.

For his part, Mohamed Abdul Majeed Al-Qubati expressed his sorrow over the appalling situation of Aden Terminal, mainly because of the confused and unclear government policies.

Al-Qubati, however, indicated that Aden can be an international port and cited an American report speaking of the possibility of turning Aden Terminal into the most important free zone in the Middle East.

Economists and MPs demanded the formation of a civil coalition to defend Aden Terminal and maintained that it was a famous port in the past.

Yemeni businessman Saleh bin Fareed Al-Surimah pointed out the eligibility of his company Gulf and Kuwait Coalition Company (KGL) to operate and develop Aden Terminal and hinted that several parties cheated and beguiled in an effort to deprive KGL of it.

Al-Surimah emphasized the agreement with Dubai Ports is invalid and it abuses people’s right, hinting that if those people succeed in passing this dubious deal, this could help corrupted officials to pass the selling of other government institutions like Aden Refinery, etc. in the future.

He also requested President Saleh to act according to his constitutional responsibility to stop what he named as misuse and abuse in Aden Terminal because it does not serve the country’s interests.

Military is about 25%

YemenTimes

However, Yemen’s health allocation in its national budget is only 4.6 percent, as compared to 18.4 percent for education, while the child protection allocation is negligible; therefore, much more attention must be attached to these issues in terms of budget and efforts.

19 billionYR is about 100,000,000 US, thats the deposits “lost”.

al-Sahwa

March 29, 2008 – A special penal court issued a decision of releasing the chairman of the Watani Bank, Dr. Ahmed al-Hamdani, on bail of YR one billion. The court headed by Judge Mohammad al-Hakimi also issued a decision of not allowing al-Hamdani to leave the country until his case is completely ended. Al-Hamdani and others are accused of squandering clients’ YR 19 billion in bank deposits.

Yemen Times:

The decision to free Al-Hamdani, who once held several ministerial positions, including minister of Agriculture & Irrigation, was issued on condition that the court resume his case on April 19, 2008. Al-Hamdani was arrested while attempting to flee the country after his bank declared bankruptcy in 2005, the first to do so in Yemen. He was then transferred to court after being charged with deceiving depositors, granting loans to irresponsible contractors and wasting nearly YR 20 billion from depositors’ funds. Similar charges were faced by other Watani bank management members, who were also released on bail.

At the most recent hearing, the prosecution provided a list of 292 debtors to the bank, who gave no guarantees yet they pay the money back. The debtors took loans amounting to YR 132,231,000.

The committee in charge of investigating the bank, after the Central Bank of Yemen (CBY) took control of it in late 2005 when it failed to fulfill its financial obligations, distributed nearly YR 6.5 billion, accounting for 39 percent of the bank’s total debts and deposits, to depositors. The court of appeals’ preliminary section sentenced Al-Hamdani in March 2006 to two years in prison and other management members to eight months each, but the defendants appealed the verdict.

In June 2005, deposits of customers and other banks in Watani bank totaled YR 22,604 million, while contractor debts did not exceed one third of the sum, contrary to the bank’s announcement that unpaid debts resulted in its bankruptcy.

Statistics released by the bank prior to its closure revealed that interest for the first half of 2005 amounted to YR 149 million. 34% is the liquidity rate at the bank, 8.93% is the bank’s capital efficiency rate and 25% is its liquidity rate in the Central Bank of Yemen.

There’s one billion (US) in loans, accruing interest, unspent.

SANA’A, Feb. 04 (Saba) - Minister of Civil Service and Insurances Hamoud Khaled al-Sufi held talks with a World Bank delegation headed by Director of Poverty Alleviation and Economic Development Sector, on cooperation aspects between Yemen and WB.

During their meeting in Sana’a, al-Sufi and the WB officer discussed the program of administrative and institutional reforms and future support horizons to Yemen’s efforts in this regard.

Al-Sufi evaluated WB’s support for Yemen over administrative and institutional reforms, saying that the Bank’s continuous support to the country has been positive impact to achieve big successes.

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An interesting report, no laws, not one prosecution. The one account closed out of 144 required that I wrote about in 2005 is still the only account closed in 2008. The report was generated from the visit of the FSAT team last year.

US Embassy: UNSCR 1267 Compliance

In response to UNSCR 1267 in September 2003 and the Yemen’s Council of Ministers’ directives,
the CBY has issued a number of circulars (most notably 75304 and 75305) to all banks operating in
Yemen, directing them to freeze the accounts of 144 persons, companies and organizations on the
1267 consolidated list, and to report any findings to the CBY. The CBY has issued updated circulars
to banks after updated 1267 information is passed from the Yemeni Embassy in Washington or
Consulate in New York through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and is voted on by the Cabinet.
However, it takes approximately one month for the list to be distributed by the Yemeni Embassy in
Washington, D.C., reviewed by various ministries in Yemen, and received by the CBY. The CBY
hand delivers the list to its financial institutions. To date, only one report on a blocked account has
been filed, which was hand-delivered by the bank to the CBY. In addition, Yemen has yet to take
any action against or freeze the assets of Sheikh Abdul Majid Zindani, despite his February 2004
addition to the 1267 list…..

In addition, the FSAT team noted a number of areas of concern that should continue to be monitored. These include: a largely unregulated money exchange service sector including both currency exchange and fund transfer services; limited capacity to monitor and control risks in the NGO sector to terrorist financing and financial fraud; and a non-bank informal banking sector that is in the beginning stages of increasing bank penetration. In addition, there are bureaucratic delays in implementing UNSCR 1267.

Parliament blocked the passage of the new legislation because it would hinder financial support for the Palestinian resistance.

The head of the airline is Saleh’s son-in-law.

Defence India

Bombardier Aerospace announced today that Felix Airways of Sana’a, Yemen has signed a firm order for eight Bombardier CRJ700 NextGen airliners, and has taken options on an additional three. Felix Airways is owned by Yemenia (Yemen Airways) and strategic investors.

(Read on …)

Thats good if the government can pay for it, maybe cancel some of the weapons deals

Government raises salaries of state employees and raises social security by 100%
Tuesday, 18-March-2008
Almotamar.net - The Yemeni government approved Tuesday granting all government employees at all levels an increment in the salaries amounting to YR 3 thousand as allowance in addition to granting pensioners 50% of the decided increment.

In its weekly meeting chaired by Prime Minister Dr Ali Mohammed Mujawar on Tuesday the cabinet decided raising assistance to social security by 100% and instructed the ministry of social affairs and labour to continue determining the new cases and study them and decide them in accordance with operative mechanisms.

The cabinet considered directives of President Ali Abdullah Saleh concerning alleviation of the impact resulting from the rise in prices of basic stuffs. It urged intensive and strict monitoring prices and taking strong legal measures against those who violate and manipulate prices.

The cabinet also stressed the importance that the Yemeni economic establishment encourages the focus on its commercial activity in the area of wheat, flour, rice and other necessary stuffs. The cabinet asked deputy premier for economic affairs, the minister of planning and international cooperation Abdulkarim al-Arhabi to communicate with donors for providing easy opportunities for the establishment in order to enhance its activity in the area of wheat and flour through building of grain silos of the establishment.

The cabinet stressed on the ministry of industry and trade to activate its role in watching and controlling prices in the capital and the governorates and to refer violators of prices to specialised judicial authorities quickly, affirming the importance of these apparatuses in the speed of deciding the cases referred to them by the ministry of industry and trade and its offices in the governorates.

sounds like the fisheries

YO>

In addition to the kidnapping cases, the Parliament also formed a committee of MPs Mohammed al-Khadim al-Wjih, Mohammed al-Hawri, Abdullah al-Maktari Ali al- Amrani, Abdulrazaq a-Hajari, Nasser Arman,

and Fuad Abdl-Karim to investigate the Yemeni Economic Establishment accounts and report on them to the Parliament.

Prime Minister Dr. Ali Mujawar explained that the Establishment is an affiliate of the Ministry of Defense because the Ministry owns 75 percent of its capital whereas the other 25 percent is owned by the interior ministry.

The Establishment’s capital was YR4 million at its conception, but has now been raised to YR10 billion. Profits in 2005 were YR157 million and rose to YR191 million the next year, according to final accounts. The Establishment employs nearly five thousand people, in addition to providing annual job opportunities for 1500-2000 temporary employees.

Under particular investigation by the committee is the use of the Establishment’s poultry and slaughterhouses. The Prime Minister stated that he should not be asked about the slaughterhouses because such issues do not concern the PM, and are under other Ministries’ responsibility.

Committee member al-Hajari responded by saying that he had practiced his constitutional rights because he did not know to which authority the Establishment was linked, so he had to direct his summons to the Prime Minister. He inquired into the Establishment’s financial practices when, in 2005 it had YR10 billion in capital, while gathering such low profits despite its commercial activities which included trading in textiles, meat, oxygen and companies.

The Establishment’s manager answered, saying that the Yemen Economic Establishment is a service and not for profit. He explained that the companies which were annexed to it were bankrupted and were under liquidation, assuring that their profit was not zero in 2005 and confirming that the final accounts are accessible.

Yemen trade exchange volume with Europe increased up to YR 418 bln

[24 March 2008]

SANA’A, March 24 (Saba)- Volume of trade exchange between Yemen and Europe increased up to around YR 418 billion last year compared to about YR 328 billion in 2006.

The trade balance realized a surplus for European countries at an increase of YR 291,880,492,000 in 2007 compared to YR 69,680,000,000 in 2006.

al-Motamar:

The Central Bank of Yemen (CBY) sold $122 million to currency exchangers last week to meet market demand for hard currency, said Ahmed Dameem, Deputy Governor of the CBY. The demand for dollars now exceeds the available supply because Yemen imports nearly 95 percent its food from abroad.

The CBY says it will continue to monitor the market and take necessary action to maintain currency stability, including drawing on its reserves of foreign currencies now exceeding $7 billion from inflated oil prices. However Officials at the CBY are concerned that intervention in hard currency will become a regular event and cause further economic problems for the Riyal.

According to the CBY, they sold $1.077 billion during 2007 to protect the value of the Yemeni riyal, a decrease from $1.122 billion sold in 2006. Dameem defended the action, saying that “selling dollars to the market is a successful way to protect the value of the riyal against hard currencies. This monetary policy has been confirmed as a useful policy by all of the international financial institutions. The value of annual imports to Yemen is around $5.8 billion, which creates a shortage of foreign currency.”

Some economists criticized the intervention as irresponsible saying that the Bank should preserve a low interest rate environment conducive to domestic investment. They claim that this would stimulate an increase in exports and sources of foreign currency income.

Mohammed al-Afandi, chairman of the Yemeni Strategic Studies Institute, explained that the economic policy applied by the bank is faulty because it doesn’t allow for the expansion of the productive capacity of the Yemeni economy. “According to its mandate for preserving exchange rate stability, the Central Bank of Yemen is responsible for correcting that shortage by selling foreign currency on the market,” said Dameem. “Yemen’s foreign currency income is generated predominately by oil revenue, held by the Central Bank.”

Yemen Observer:

The Public Money Prosecution managed to recover YR1 billion in embezzled public funds in 2007.

Dr. Abdul al-Malik al-A’wash, a lawyer with the Public Money Prosecution, declared that YR1,000,248,747 was recovered in addition to $284,000 and 2300 Euros, due to sequestration and attestation rulings in embezzlement cases in the same year.

Al-A’wash said that they received 1,758 cases in all governorates last year, and 589 of them were considered serious.

Al-A’wash added that verdicts were passed on 202 of these cases, 832 are still undergoing investigation, while 20 were dropped due to lack of jurisdiction. Decisions of absence of right were passed on 204 of the cases. He added that they received 68 cases from the Central Organization for Control and Audit (COCA), asserting that the Capital Secretariats in Aden, Taiz, Hodeida, Hadramout, Lahj and Ibb were the worst offending regions in the public money cases.

Investors sought for Yemen LNG
Tuesday 11 March 2008 / Marebpress

With costs skyrocketing around the globe, the Total-led consortium developing the Yemen LNG project is believed to be seeking investors for help with ballooning capital expenditures for the facility, which have now reached up to $4bn.

The project financing consists of a $1.44bn senior limited recourse facility that would be paid back to investors when the plant begins generating revenue and a $1.2bn loan that would be guaranteed by Total.

The $1.44bn loan will be split between three export-credit agencies, consisting of Export-Import Bank of Korea (KEXIM), Nippon Export and Investment Insurance and France’s Coface. Japan Bank for International Co-operation (JBIC) and KEXIM are together expected to provide direct loans of $360m.

The two-train liquefaction plant is currently under construction at the 20 square km site in the port city of Balhaf, on the southern coast of Yemen. If financing for the last leg of the project is secured, the project’s developers – Total 39.62%, Hunt Oil 17.22%, Yemen Gas Co. 16.73%, SK Corp. 9.55%, KOGAS 6%, Hyundai 5.88%, and General Authority for Social Security and Pensions 5% - expect the project to achieve commercial operation by the end of 2008 or early 2009.

Yemen LNG has signed three, 20-year purchase and sale agreements for 6.0 million mty from the 6.7-million-mty plant with buyers KOGAS, Total Gas & Power and Suez LNG Trading. Under the contract with KOGAS, first cargos of Yemeni LNG are expected to be delivered to KOGAS’ Inchon Terminal in South Korea in late 2008.

Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, BNP Paribas, Citigroup, ING, Royal Bank of Scotland, Societe Generale and SMBC are the lead arrangers and book-runners on authorizing both the $1.44 billion and the $1.2 billion credit facilities, with Calyon joining the lenders on the Total-guaranteed loan.

Source: Gasworld

By Alistair Lyon, Special Correspondent
SANAA, Feb 25 (Reuters) - Foreigners wander freely among the handsome stone and baked-brick houses of Sanaa’s Old City, but elsewhere in Yemen al Qaeda attacks have damaged a fledgling tourism industry already hurt by tribal kidnappings.

The government, which hopes tourism earnings can help offset flagging oil revenues, is struggling to shore up security by providing armed police escorts for travel to certain areas. It even plans a satellite system to track tourist vehicles.

Tourism Minister Nabil Hasan al-Faqih said the system should be working within two months. “This will help the tourism police and (local) governors,” he told Reuters in an interview.

Yemen can ill afford any more shocks like last month’s killing of two Belgian tourists and two Yemenis by gunmen in Hadramout, a southern province previously thought safe.

That shooting occurred only six months after a suicide car bomb killed eight Spanish tourists and two Yemenis in the troubled Marib region, 100 km (60 miles) east of Sanaa.

Yemen earned $424 million from 379,000 visitors last year, but Faqih said a 15 percent growth target set for 2008 would have to be lowered after the Hadramout killings.

Insecurity is bad news for the tourism sector and chances of foreign investment in the Middle East’s poorest country, where infrastructure is ramshackle and quality hotels are few.

(Read on …)

al-Motamar Yemen’s parliament on Saturday passed an article amendment of the commercial law allowing non-Yemeni persons to work in trade in the Yemeni Republic without the need to have a Yemeni partner or partners and in accordance to the operative laws.

The parliament approved by the end of last February the amendment of article 28 of the commercial law after finishing its discussion of a report by the trade and industry parliamentary committee on results of its study of the draft law in this regard presented by the government.

The parliament has today also passed several laws on approving agreements of oil production sharing concluded between the Yemeni Ministry of Oil and Minerals and world oil companies.

International court cases……

al-Sahwa: February 28, 2008- Yemen’s government has wasted financial resources in form of compensations offered for foreign firms due to absurd deals signed with firms.

Several companies filed suits in international courts against Yemen, and won those cases.

Yemeni government compensated a French company $40m . The company received the amount in January with opposition some offcials. Yemen further paid 6,2 compensation to a Canadian Kwala firm

Additionally, Yemen lost $154m during 2005 — 2007 due to gradual reduction for customs and tax tariff within the agreement of the biggest Arab Free Trade Zone, reported Saba. The estimated increasing these losses up to $ 300m during this year and around $524m in 2009 to be $838m by 2010, expecting the losses in 2005-2010 reach $1816m.

More over a French court sentenced Yemen to pay $27m compensation for an Omani company.

The government terminated the contract binding it to Singapore Yemen Vest (and paid a $200 million compensation), ten years after lawmakers and economists warned about its viciousness.

CA chairman: Blacklist for violators of customs law due to be issued soon

SANA’A- March 07 (Saba)- Chairman of the Customs Authority (CA) Ali al-Zabidi has revealed that the authority is preparing a blacklist for traders who breach customs law.

In an interview with Saba, al-Zabidi said that solutions to tackle issues of customs need safe measures and care for employee of the authority.

Saba: what are the key reforms taken in Customs Authority during two years ago?

Al-Zabidi: The reforms focused on two domains, one on legislation and the second on administration. The authority worked to review laws associated with customs tariff and correct some customs measures.

Regarding the administrative reforms, the authority has conducted a study over
restructuring the authority, held several training courses for employees, appointed skilled personnel and rehabilitated certain customs outlets in some regions like in Mukalla, and Taiz airport as well as set up new customs centers after agreement with neighboring countries within joint cooperation.

The authority also has supplied these centers with up-to-date customs systems.

(Read on …)

Oil subsidies at work.

SHABWA,NewsYemen

The director of security in Shabwa Hamoud al-Harithi said police arrested a group of people while they were attempting to smuggle a quantity of diesel abroad.

“The smugglers were trying to take away tanks containing 150,000 liter of diesel through the see,” said al-Harithi. He said owners of some fuel stations and some oil companies working in Yemen have offered assistance to smugglers.

Update:

Through looking at the other side of the corruption cycle, the different levels of governance have varying degrees of involvement in corruption, ranging from the baselines to middle and high-level officials. However, the recent formation of the Supreme National Authority for Combating Corruption has raised hopes in the sincerity of government’s efforts towards enhancing transparency and battling corruption.

However, spectators indicate that the anti-corruption commission will have limited success in any anti-corruption reforms, quoting that the commission has distributed over 3000 applications for the disclosure of net wealth to high ranking government officials, while less than 300 officials cooperated with the commission and disclosed their net worth. Challengingly, a source who requested to remain anonymous indicated that the president himself refused a request from the commission to take the lead and disclose his own net worth in order to influence other officials, but the presidential office turned that request down.

It is obvious that the anti-corruption commission will be facing a serious challenge if it is to succeed in its anti-corruption mission; however, the hope relies within the support of the international community and donor organizations such as the World Bank and USAID.

Original Post: The article doesnt mention how many declaration forms were sent out, I think its around 2000. Its a good system. As with everything else, the key will be enforcement. Publishing the names in the newspaper is not enforcement; legal action is. The state cannot be above the law, but it is.

al-Motamar

Almotamar.net - The Supreme National Anti-Corruption Authority (SNACA) in Yemen has on Wednesday threatened to refer all those who are lagging behind in delivering their financial declarations to prosecution to be accounted on heir properties and to be tried on charges of corruption cases in case they did not deliver those declarations as soon as possible.

Head of financial declaration sector at the SNACA Mohammed al-Matari told almotamar.net that the authority would in the next three weeks prepare statements of the names of those who failed to present their financial declarations and sending them to prosecution and trial.

The SNACA has earlier defined a date for all those involves in financial declarations in 60 days from receiving the form but many of those included have delayed in committing to that and that impedes the authority work. Al-Matari said the number of those who delivered their financial declarations from ministers, directors general and government officials is so far 592 persons, indicating to almotamar.net that all the ministers have handed over their declarations while many of directors general still have not delivered their declarations.

This measure comes at a time the authority has revealed that of investigations carried out by officials at the authority in 54 cases of corruption.

Yemen Times:

SANA’A, March 3 — Bread prices have jumped to YR 20 per loaf instead of YR 10, thereby constituting a 100-percent increase. As a result, Yemenis have strongly denounced the sudden and unexpected increase in bread prices, particularly as bread is one of the basic commodities in their everyday life.

“We’re shocked at the sudden rise in bread prices, but we’re obliged to buy it at such a high price because no one can dispense with bread, a necessity at every meal,” citizen Abdullah Qutaina observed, “Bread prices have doubled while loaf weight varies from one bakery to another.

“Unfortunately, bakeries don’t produce bread according to a standard weight,” he added, urging concerned government authorities to put a stop to the skyrocketing prices of basic foodstuffs, particularly, wheat, flour, cooking oil, milk, rice and sugar.

“From