“Loans are a Necessary Evil” [Archives:1999/33/Business & Economy]

Ahlam Al-Mutawakel,
Yemen Times
Yemen is one of the developing countries that depend greatly on loans and credits in their development. Since the 1950s, Yemen’s debt has reached $ 9,013,000,000. This amount has recently been discounted to $ 4,500,000,000 in Paris Club. In a symposium on loans and their role in the development process in our country, Mr. Abdul Aziz Abdul Ghani, President of the Consultative Council, pointed out the fields loans are used in. these fields are: transportation, construction and roads, agriculture, electricity, education, health, harbors, airports, water and sewage. The council also discussed a number of papers and studied the various suggestion on how to take advantage of these loans properly. Mr. Yahya Qahtan, member of the Council said that loans are something necessary evil and they threaten the new generations’ future.
” The papers discussed in the symposium are very important all the suggestions exchanged by the participants in the symposium will be considered”, said Mr. Yahya Al-Habbary, head of the Economical Committee. ” These papers will be given to the Economic Committee for further studies after which the Committee will send a detailed report to the President.”, Al-Habbary added.
In his paper, Dr. Mutahar Al-Abbasy, Deputy Minister of Planning and Development, said that reports by the International Organizations listed Yemen among the world poorest countries. The First Human Development Report 1998 shows that Yemen holds the 148th position among 174 countries in terms of the human development indicators achieved.” We must concentrate on”, Al-Abbasy went on, ” the population growth, water shortage, insufficiency of the infra-structure, natural resources, education, health sector, electricity and roads.” He also asserted the importance of encouraging the role played by the private sector in the field of tourism.
Another paper on” Indebtedness, its Causes and Dangers” was presented by Dr. Jalal Abdul Aziz Al-Qubati in which he highlighted the consequences of postponing paying the loans back saying that it moves the economical crisis from bad to worse. Dr. Abdul Aziz Al-Shwafi also participated with a paper entitled “indebtedness” in which he presented a number of suggestions. Chief among them are the following:
Supporting the role the Arab Fund plays in supporting the Arab countries.
Establishing an Arab Fund to help the Arab countries in moments of urgency.


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