READER COMMENTS

Almost everything that is said and written about Yemen these days relating to the challenges facing the country after the crisis that befell it during 2011 and there is no doubt that the challenges that Yemen had suffered from were serious; it is clear that they worsened after the crisis, especially in the economic sector. It is sufficient to refer to a very important report published by the World Food Organization based on field surveys that show the dangerous deterioration experienced by the food security rates in Yemen. However, the report highlighted the magnitude of the human suffering that more than ten million Yemeni are living in who today do not receive enough food. Moreover, more than half of this number suffers from food insecurity. These are serious and comprehensive indicators that point to the worsening of poverty and the decline of incomes, as well as the rising unemployment rates that are added to a long list of current developmental and economic indicators that show the magnitude of the challenges faced by the Yemeni citizen.

The impact of the economic crisis on Yemen would be as large as its openness to the global economy. In addition, the decline and the deceleration of economic growth in other countries would have an impact on the decline of Yemeni economic growth. As a matter of fact, Yemen has taken serious measures to deal with the economic and the financial crisis in order to minimize the negative impacts of the economic crisis. It has succeeded in doing that through managing the crisis rationally, avoiding individualism and through the promotion and the increase of production skills so as to meet the food shortage in collaboration with the international organizations. Yemen has also pushed commercial banks to play a more effective and varied role. In this respect, the research is trying to determine the extent of the effects of terrorism and its acts on the Yemeni economy because of the continuity of this economic crisis. Then, the research would make a set of proposals to address these effects. In fact, the effects and the signs of the crisis of terrorism have started to spread and move from one country to another in most of the world countries. Besides, its negative impacts affected both developed and underdeveloped countries and even the countries which have nothing to do with terrorist cells. As a result, this crisis has led to major losses for banks and financial institutions which have lost confidence in Yemen, mainly that of the investors and shareholders in addition to the disorders and imbalances in general in the public sector as well as the energy and the financial sector. Such a state has also led to the collapse of the financial, insurance and other institutions in Yemen. Indeed, the degree of collapse and lack of confidence differed from one sector to another. In addition, stock markets have witnessed fluctuations in prices ranging from increases and decreases and instability leading to the instability of energy-based production markets. In fact, oil prices have reached their highest record, leading to economic instability in Yemen. The latter may decelerate the growth rates and this will have a negative impact on the trade relationships, bearing in mind that this deceleration will spread from Yemen to the world.

The cost is paid by the Yemeni citizen, while the government is trying to improve his living conditions and financial situation. Today, the tourism sector is showing positive indications, despite the dire economic conditions. This is reflected with the high demand to visit Yemen to enjoy its beautiful weather, cultural heritage and unique monuments. This coincides with the government’s efforts to convince some European countries to cancel their warnings not to visit Yemen or to take urgent precautions. Yemen is a secure and stable country and it welcomes its guests. Yemen is an active member in the international campaign to fight terrorism. Our country is a victim of terror and sabotage actions that have targeted its security, stability and economic and social development.

Terrorism's goal is destruction and like a virus, it aims to spread worldwide: once it hits a country, you cannot treat it. It is a filthy bacterium; they use it against the States to deceive people, and spread corruption and darkness in the whole world. It attacks the targeted country's ground facilities, infrastructure and properties. Their acts include arsons, bombings, destroying public and private properties, the sabotage of public transport and the bombing of embassies, tourism companies and other targets. And this undermines the country's economy as well as the tourism sector; all these terrorist acts are aimed to provoke a state of terror and panic among the people, to threaten the security and stability of the international community and to prejudice the safety of vital facilities and destabilize international relations that should prevail in international dealings.

The government must cleanse Yemen of the subversive movements that will drain the country's resources and spread horror and desolation. The Yemeni citizen is suffering from rising prices which made him unable to get his basic needs. The government must enhance investment projects that will play an important role in boosting the economy and will provide job opportunities, solving the unemployment problem which is affecting many Arab youth due to the lack of such projects. Investment projects will positively impact the whole country by providing the needed resources, raw materials and funds, in order to allow the implementation of these projects. All state agencies should start studying projects beneficial to the country and address all the problems that hinder their implementation and ensure their success. Yemen is currently outside the boundary of the global economy, and the Yemeni government must be working on the provision of the distinctive opportunities for the Arab businessmen who want to expand their business worldwide, but at the same time want to make a lot of profit and the provision of the best offers and prices for such projects. The Yemeni government must give Arab investors the needed incentives to attract them, and create a suitable investment environment by providing them with the best offers and prices and the appropriate places to establish their projects. Investments projects will support the Yemeni industry, which will lead to a reduction in commodity prices. The Yemeni government should quickly work to implement those conventions to secure a better future for Yemenis.

The problem of Yemeni security is traceable to the old economic crises. In fact, Yemen today is one of the world's poorest countries despite its large territories and long coastal and land borders. Still, the central Government is very vulnerable. All those factors encouraged al-Qaeda to move and settle down in Yemen. The conditions of Yemen offered a favorable environment for the Houthis’ rebellion, which was originally a result of incitement and help of foreigners, namely Iran. In fact, the maintenance of the security of any country in the world requires substantial funds that could exhaust the budget of the States. Yemen has never been able to afford such services. What matters now is that things there do not deteriorate further. There is still a reasonable chance to fight al-Qaeda and the insurgents provided that the neighboring and the other regional countries assume the importance of stability, security and tranquility in Yemen.

Developing a fully discussed plan is required that will make the Yemeni government play a helpful role in the reform of the imbalance of population and economic dislocation which is currently reinforcing the feeling that the situation is difficult in Yemen. Several challenges are facing the country at the same time, and we also see there is unrest in the southern regions; there are incidents of a terrorist nature committed by al-Qaeda of killings and acquisition of control of the site in general. There is also an emerging war which has been going on for many years through foreign hands that play a role successively in the Arab countries for which we have not found yet a solution despite the presence of mediation by Arab countries. Also there is above all a real and deep economic crisis going back to the ratios of Yemen's oil supply relative to the reserve quantities in the territory of the country, and its water on the other hand. There is a large population growth on the other hand, as we mentioned earlier, the areas where all different Arab nationalities are stationed, and this growth takes into account all economic progress, achieved at any level, as it has an impact on Yemen and its people and on their lives.

We recognize that the economic problem in Yemen is not far from the political crisis by any means. If we want to diagnose the crisis that led to the economic problem, we must first know the causes and treatments and then place it right. No one knows the history of Yemen as a separate entity before 1918. As it was, before that date, a part of the surrounding area and subject to what it was subjected to; it was a state of the Ottoman Empire, which was wiped out by the Arab and Turkish traitors in collaboration with the English. Since the entry of the capitalist system into Yemen, Yemen has suffered from crisis, wars, assassinations, strikes, poverty, unemployment, and the control of the colonizer over their potential and capabilities in collaboration with people of influence and interests. The economic problem is not due to the lack of resources in Yemen or due to the increase of consumption or imports or in the poverty of the country, but in the poverty of individuals. The fundamental problem lies in the secular system, which controls Yemen and manages this system, and in the West's policy towards Yemen and the financial and administrative reform programs developed by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.

After that, Allah blessed the people of Yemen in order to rid the corrupt clique. Today, they must forget all the differences, get ready for a new phase of construction and work for the advancement of the country in social and economic terms in order to be able to get out of the crisis being experienced by the country at the present time. The best way to achieve this is to open the door for investments in the country and to give attractive incentives for the companies to make investments in Yemen in order to move the wheel of the Yemeni economy for the better. Investment operations will have a significant impact on creating job opportunities that will enable many Yemeni people to contribute to getting rid of the problem of unemployment, which is one of the reasons for the occurrence of large problems in the country. Investment will lead to significant economic returns to the country, thus contributing to the recovery of the economic situation of Yemen and keeping it from collapsing.

The Yemeni citizens suffer from a bad economy that affects the future of Yemen; it led to the increase in the poverty rate, which reached unreasonable degrees. Poverty has become the controlling factor of most citizens in Yemen. Yemen has never been a country with a strong economy at any time. The government has to start putting strategies in place to develop all the sectors. Many of the citizens of Yemen work overseas, especially in the Arab countries, and this is why Yemen does not have a sufficient workforce to improve the state of the economy. Changing the conditions of Yemenis for the better will contribute to changing their lives and future and running their country. Yemen needs many things that will help in developing its coming future. The democratic process in Yemen has not started yet, but it needs a lot of development so that it can be implemented. The old regime is gone and another man came into power from the same old regime. We need an honest president to start the new country. It is time to put the regime of Saleh on trial for the crimes they committed. It is time to destroy everyone who contributed to destroying Yemenis.

The biggest problem faced by the Yemeni national is a slow economy, which caused a lot of problems. The citizen of Yemen is unable to work for lack of opportunity to work that resulted from the stoppage of the sectors of industry and agriculture due to the inability of the government to develop these projects due to a lack of cash and the poor security situation that caused the flight of many Yemeni businessmen with their projects to establish them in other countries, and the high prices.This is because because they resort to importing food from abroad, and the situation becomes bad for the simple citizen who suffers from a lot of problems and could not buy them for lack of money to do so. If the Yemeni government resorted to the development of industry and domestic production, it could save a lot of basic goods at cheaper prices for citizens instead of poverty witnessed by Yemeni citizens in all the services which they hoped to get in a better and easier manner than now, and for the government to reach that level it must strive to provide the appropriate opportunity for the development of the economic sector and to encourage businessmen to provide land at cheaper prices to set up their projects there in order to foster investment in Yemen, and this will not come about except by providing security and safety which is the first requirement of any investor and that’s what the government of Yemen should learn in the near future in order to change the condition of the country.

Yemeni citizens cannot relinquish any of their rights. They do not get their rights as citizens, so how can the members of those movements share with them the remainder of their rights, which they are supposed get by all means? The war of citizens with terrorism has begun and all citizens must cooperate in combating those that are sabotaging their homeland. They have to let go of their futile sit-ins. They have succeeded in ousting an entire regime and I am sure they will be able to eliminate those movements, which I think will not be more powerful than the Saleh regime. However, they are in fact more dangerous than the Saleh regime because they have adopted ideas that aim at demolishing people and destroying future generations of the nation. How can a nation do without new generations and how will it continue its journey without having people that make every effort to make their country the best it can possibly be and enjoy its resources alone? These movements are akin to parasitic organisms that feed on other organisms and they are hated very much in all societies. O Allah, make Yemen and all those who live in it secure. O Allah, take away sorrow from Yemenis. O Allah, Lift your wrath off of them, and tear down injustice and aggression, O Lord of the Worlds. O Allah, return to the citizens every land and every inch in their countries. O Allah, return good things to Yemen. O Allah, bless the poor and fed them from Thee, Lord of the Worlds, Amen.