Yemen witnesses new investments and industrial projects

The General Investment Authority (GIA), in its efforts to provide more facilities and incentives to the investment projects, ....

Improving the Investment Environment

The General Investment Authority (GIA), in its efforts to provide more facilities and incentives to the investment projects, has four main functions: policy advocacy, image building, investor outreach and investment facilitation. GIA issued a report concerning Yemen’s various investment projects throughout the country, which detailed the investment capital during the past three years.

“It is obvious that Yemen has been affected by the global financial crisis in relation to investment projects that were not able to secure financing,” said Montaha Muthana, chairwoman of the promotion sector at the GIA. “Unfortunately, the current security situation has also impacted Yemen’s image abroad which in turn impacted our ability to attract foreign investments.” However, the General Investment Authority, along with many other government agencies, has been able to work in coordination to portray the reality to the external media and promote the various investment opportunities available in Yemen, Muthana said.

For his part, Dr. Taha Al Fosiel, advisor to the Minister of Industry and Trade and the official responsible for improvement of the investment environment at the ministry, said that there are external and local factors behind the decrease in new investment projects registered in 2009, despite the country’s improvement in the Doing Business report, which ranks countries’ business environments. In terms of external factors, the financial crisis affected negatively the gulf investment not in Yemen but in GCC countries, he said.

Al Fosiel talked about the internal factors, saying that an attractive investment environment must include political, economic and social stability. He explained that the investment environment does not exist in a vacuum; thus the conflict in the north, the southern movement, and disagreement among political parties have affected the investment climate.

Al Fosiel talking positively about the outlook for investments in 2010, saying that “Yemen is keen to continue its agenda for reform, expecting more investments projects because the improvement of Yemen’s rank in the international reports, and the issuance of the new investment law which includes more privileges for investors.”

According to the recently issued report, there were YR 277 billion worth of projects registered in 2007, YR 389 billion in 2008 and YR 314.9 billion in 2009. The report also provided statistics of job opportunities created by such investments: 13,143 in 2007, 13,991 in 2008 and 10,364 in 2009.

According to the report, the GIA registered industrial projects with an estimated cost of YR 92.8 billion, service projects with an estimated cost of YR 175 billion, agricultural projects with an estimated cost of 5.7 billion, tourist projects with and estimated cost of YR 38.5 billion, and projects in the fisheries sector within the 2009 fiscal year with an estimated cost of 2.5 billion.

The report mentioned that the foreign investment projects in 2009 were increased compared to the total of 2008 and 2007 by an estimated cost of more than YR 130.9 billion,  while creating over 2,000 more job opportunities.

Collective Gulf investment during 2009 was YR 113.5 billion, compared to YR 60.8 billion in 2008. Saudi Arabia invested YR 33 billion in 2009. Three Kuwaiti investment projects were registered by GIA with capital investment amounting to YR 3.6 billion. The GIA registered two Kuwaiti investment projects in 2008 with capital investments amounting to YR 4.6 billion, and one project in 2007 with capital investment amounting to YR 105 million. The UAE had two projects with a combined capital investment of YR 160 million, providing 26 jobs. This stands in contrast to the 2008 projects, where another two undertakings provided a total capital of YR 2 billion. The GIA registered two Qatari investment projects with YR 560 million in investment capital. In 2009 one Qatari investment was registered at a total worth of 105 billion, providing over 500 jobs