SANAA, 8 April 2007 — Yemen’s new Cabinet must wage a vigorous war on corruption as it presses ahead with reform, President Ali Abdullah Saleh said yesterday.
“You must wage a vigorous war on corruption and the corrupt ... and continue with fiscal and economic reform,” Saleh told members of Ali Mohammed Mujawar’s Cabinet after they took the oath of office.
Saleh, reelected in September, appointed Mujawar as prime minister on March 31 in what analysts regarded as a bid to show donors, such as the World Bank, he was serious about reform.
In November, international donors pledged $4.7 billion for Yemen. “You have to find large scale strategic projects that the government can adopt alongside the private sector to create jobs ... and improve the living conditions of citizens,” said Saleh.
Yemen is one of the poorest countries in the world, and major donor countries, concerned that the reform process has stalled, have stepped up pressure on Sanaa by linking aid to tangible change.
Almost half of Yemenis are illiterate and 4 out of 10 people live on less than $2 a day, according to the British government, which says that Yemen’s oil, its main earnings source, is expected to dry up by 2015.
Mujawar is regarded as having stronger economic credentials than his predecessor Abdul-Qader Ba-Jammal.
Yemen — which receives grants and long-term loans from donor countries — produces around 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil.
Yemen’s 2007 budget of 1.622 trillion rials ($8.24 billion) forecasts a deficit of 188.3 billion rials.
Mujawar said his Cabinet, which includes new finance and trade ministers, will “give special attention to creating a (positive) investment climate and remove obstacles hindering investment”.
Saleh Friday sacked the newly appointed Industry and Trade Minister Sayf Al-Asali after the minister rejected the post in protest over his removal from the Finance Ministry.
The official Saba news agency said Saleh issued a presidential decree appointing Yahya Al-Mutawakil, who previously was deputy minister of planning, as industry minister to replace Al-Asali. No reason was given by the agency for the dismissal, but official sources told Arab News the move was in reaction to the minister’s refusal to take charge of the new portfolio.
