The Forum on the Reforms from the Perspective of Donors: Yemen has trouble mobilizing resources for the general budget

In the Forum on the Reforms from the Perspective of Donors, which was organized by the SCSS on Monday, Oct. 29, 2009, at Movenpick Hotel, Sana'a, the participants confirmed that Yemen has trouble mobilizing its scarce resources and suffers from the mismanagement of the available ones.

At the outset of the meeting, Executive Director of the SCSS Ahmed A. Saif Al-Mussabi affirmed that the rationale behind the event was to round up experienced researchers and relevant officials who are aware of the aids and grants offered by the representatives and ambassadors of the donor countries supporting Yemen and to give an opportunity for scientific discussion in an atmosphere free from ceremonious protocols and remote from any diplomatic courtesy so that the meeting could come up with practical visions and proposals to assist the decision-makers in implementing those policies conducive to development efficiency of the various concerned sectors.
In the conclusion of his keynote speech, Dr. Mussabi requested the participants to freely discuss and exchange their views, pointing out that the outputs of the Forum would receive the decision-maker's attention and care, and they would be under the Chatham House Rule, which offers on one hand ample freedom for participants and encourages them to transparently present their views, and it governs on the other hand the confidentiality of the sources of information so that the identity and the affiliation of the speaker(s) as well as that of any other participants cannot be revealed.
Mr. Hisham Sharaf, Deputy Minister of Planning and Development, commended the SCSS for taking the initiative to organize the Forum at this critical juncture of time which witnessed, and still does, economic transformations and global startling changes that have a direct bearing on the general budget in particular and Yemen's economy in general, which calls for the continuation of the economic reforms that Yemen has commenced implementing since the mid-1990s.
The main discussion paper prepared by Arwa Al-Badani, a researcher at the SCSS, and presented by Ms. Khulood Nashir, the director of the public relations and conferences, reviewed the phases the reforms in Yemen have gone through, highlighting the successes achieved by a variety of factors that helped in the macroeconomic recovery after the 1995 Structural Adjustment Program, those factors leading to these successes over the last period, and the challenges facing them on account of the decline in oil prices (the most important source boosting the general budget) on the global markets. The paper came to the conclusion that Yemen is going through a critical time calling for mobilizing all potential capacities, including the aids of the donor countries which help mitigate the effects of global changes on public funding in Yemen.
For their part, the attendees indicated that not only does Yemen encounter accidental barriers and problems, but also it suffers from structural imbalances in management, politics, economy and development, some of which are due to accumulated effects of mismanagement, corruption and non-enforcement of the law. The capacity of the government to stand up to these imbalances, be it the accidental or longstanding ones, is not commensurate, as pointed out by the participants, with the size of the existing and potential problems although Yemen has ambitions and outlined goals which cannot be achieved by the administrative reality. According to some of the views, this situation makes the country lose many chances, as such successes necessitate collective and harmonious work on the part of all the concerned bodies because there are various reform issues, including economic, financial, administrative, social, cultural, scientific, judicial, etc. issues, which means that any deficiency in any area would trigger new problems impeding the reforms on one hand and impact the flow of the aids provided by donors.
It was unanimously agreed that Yemen is facing many difficulties at different levels: water, and the depletion of this scarce resource as a result of qat cultivation; education whose institutions are suffering from weaknesses in terms of enrolment capacity which seems to be limited and unable to meet the increasing demand of high school outputs on account of the rapid population growth; the reduction in oil production; and the increased rate of unemployment in view of scant job opportunities provided by the public sector and the slow growth in the private sector as a result of security and political circumstances and factors.
The participants indicated that there are local capacities that can be directed at promoting the various socio-economic activities: exploring the expected oil and gas; exporting gas; improving the free zone; investing in major infrastructures like sea ports, roads, sanitation sector, educational institutions at the different level, health care, and social security; and activating mechanisms for creating accountability, combating corruption, and enforcing the law and security.
All this would open promising avenues for development in the country and earn the supporters' and donors' trust.