Saudi Arabia to the Yemeni government: Count on yourselves
English - Thursday 07 January 2021 الساعة 09:25 am
Aden, NewsYemen, Exclusive:
A government source revealed that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, nor any other donor, has indicated its desire to provide funding to Yemen at the current time.
The government source, who requested anonymity, told "NewsYemen" that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia asked the new government - the government of parity between the north and the south - to rely on itself first.
He added that Saudi Arabia assured the government that if it proves itself in mobilizing resources, restoring the capabilities of economic and revenue institutions, fighting corruption, working with transparency, and paying salaries, international funding will be sought to support the Yemeni economy.
Saudi Arabia had provided financial support to the Yemeni economy, with a value of more than $ 2.2 billion in March 2018, and subsidized electricity fuel by about $ 180 million, which was crucial in helping Yemen escape from the economic collapse.
But Riyadh expressed its dissatisfaction with the government's performance with Saudi financial support and its lack of direction to activate the economy.
The parity government faces great challenges and huge files, the most important of which are: fragmentation of macroeconomic policies, fragmentation of resources between de facto authorities, low oil revenues and remittances from expatriates, poor performance of government revenue interests, rampant corruption, in addition to an increase in the salary and wage bill.
The United Nations called on the Yemeni government, at an earlier time, to put in place a credible and transparent plan that reassures donors and includes the payment of public salaries.
The Yemeni riyal had recovered after the announcement of the formation of the government, which added more confidence to the banking market, but it collapsed again.
The Yemeni economy has been devastated and fragmented due to the ongoing war, and the Corona pandemic has exacerbated the situation, and the amount of foreign exchange available in Yemen is currently limited to aid, transfers and limited oil export revenues.
Yemen's economic and social outlook for 2021 remains highly uncertain.
