São Paulo – The Yemeni transitional government needs US$ 6.4 billion. The funds, which are being raised from among non-government organizations and the private sector, will be spent on reducing food insecurity, which plagues roughly 10 million people, increase the income of more than half the country’s 24 million inhabitants, who survive on less than US$ 2 a day, and create jobs. The information was released this Tuesday (4th) by the World Bank.
According to the World Bank, fostering institutions and donor countries are gathered at a two-day meeting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to raise the money. The Saudis have announced that they will cooperate with US$ 3.25 billion. The US$ 6.4 billion should be used over the next 18 months by the transitional government, which took office in December 2011 after president Ali Abdullah Saleh stepped down.
In order to ensure that the country will receive the money and spend it to the benefit of its population, the government met with the donors and established a Mutual Accountability Framework setting forth which urgent actions are to be taken in order to improve the living conditions of the people, and future actions to foster economic growth.
In addition to the Saudi donation, the World Bank has committed to sending more than US$ 400 million to the Yemenis in the next two years. The institution already has a US$ 700 million loan program underway in the country.
““In response to the extraordinary challenges it faces, the Government of National Reconciliation has proposed this very ambitious plan for economic recovery which will need our support,” said the World Bank vice president for the Middle East and North Africa, Inger Andersen. He added that the mutual accountability framework will guarantee that the promises of aid are kept, and that they are aligned with Yemen’s needs.
Aside from the US$ 6.4 billion loan under discussion in Riyadh, Yemen has a development plan which will require US$ 11.9 billion. Of these, US$ 4.3 billion will be needed in the short-term, and US$ 7.6 billion in the long term. Another donor meeting will be held to raise the funds.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
