Press Review [Archives:1999/24/Press Review]

Ray,
Sanaa Weekly, Mouthpiece of
The League of the Sons of Yemen (Rabita Party),   8/6/1999
Main Headlines:
1- 13,000 tribesmen from Khawlan gathered in Jihanah district to discuss the murder of one of their Shiekhs at the hands of a senior Shiekh from Hashed.
2- Rabita Party condemns violations of the Supreme elections Committee.
3- Rabita Party sent condolences to the family of the late Dr. Al-Saqqaf.
4- The ongoing trails of the independent press provoke many organizations in the World. These organizations have sent letters to the government expressing their concern over the continuous harassment against the Yemen independent press.
— Issue’s Editorial
The statements of our politicians related to the success of the so called economic reforms were excessively optimistic. For some time they were bold enough to hammer this success into our ears, using the fixing of the YR rate as an impregnable proof of this success. The policy to issue high-interest treasury bills to circumvent the problem of the deficit is in fact like a momentary dose that can relieve the pain but fail to cure the patient. However, it did not take long to find out an what fragile foundations the government has relied in order to check the decline of the local currency. At a time when the high interest rate of the treasury bills has tempted many investors to put their money in the banks, our policy makers were completely unaware that by such policy they have dealt a severe blow to the national economy, which is now passing through the worst case of depression.
Accurate calculations point out that more hardships are yet in store as huge amounts of public funds will be spent to cover and also to secure the results of the upcoming presidential elections. Of course, the scourge of these hardships will be painfully felt by the majority of poor and low-income families.
In our opinion, the reform process is an integrated system, in which the main door to its fulfillment begins with political reform leading to a reasonable degree of economic stability.

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