Good economic news from Central Bank [Archives:2005/813/Front Page]
Ismail Al-Ghabiri
Yemen's inflation is down, and its economic growth is up.
Inflation declined to 10 percent last year compared to 13.5 percent in 2003, according to a recent report of the Central Bank, which also reported that economic growth reached 4.0 per cent, compared to 3.2 per cent the year before.
They were good news items in a report that the bank says are signs of government policy that's working.
The report also credited higher oil revenues and the development of other economic sectors including fisheries and other industries.
The report added that the price of Yemeni currency was relatively stable during the year 2004 as the exchange rate for dollar was 185.2 YR compared to 184.2 in 2003.
The monetary supply came at 13.7 percent, rising from YR 786 billion to YR 894 billion. The rate of exchange to the monetary supply went down from 35% to 32%. This indicates an improvement in the banking sector that witnessed remarkable vivacity during the past year.
The external savings of the Central Bank of Yemen of foreign monetary rose to $5.6 billion compared to $5 billion at the end of 2003 and the overall budget of the commercial and Islamic banks reached YR 675 billion last year compared to YR 562 billion in 2003.
The rate of deposits in the banks amounted up to YR 555.8 billion during the year 2004 and this in turn enabled the banks to attract more savings and deposits to employ them in developmental purposes.
The report mentioned that the economic performance made up for the State's general budget with 3 percent out of the overall gross domestic production.
The rate of Arab and foreign investments numbered up to 276 entrepreneurial projects at a total cost of YR 90 billion distributed among sectors of industry, tourist services and fisheries.
This made available 800 job opportunities and helped decrease the rate of external loan by $36 million, reaching $5.3 billion compared to $10.5 billion when the State started to practice the economic reforms in 1995.
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