By NNN-SABA
Sana’a : Yemen is currently adopting a range of measures and policies to improve the investment environment, in the light of the growing flow of Gulf, Arab and international $100 billion investments in the country.
The government’s new economic policies are within its reform efforts and developing some legislation to address the administrative imbalances and improve its performance.
The expected policies would be focused on promising investment and facilities guaranteed by the investment law in giving tax and customs exemptions and preventing any ways of nationalizing, seizing or confiscating projects only through a court order.
According to the latest statistics issued by the General Authority for Investment (GAI), Yemen witnessed in April-September 2007 a remarkable growth in the flow of foreign investments, particularly from the Gulf States.
The statistics showed a remarkable growing of investment projects licensed in the third quarter of 2007, which amounted to 110 projects.
According to an economic advisor in the Chambers Federation of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Abdul-Latif Ibrahim, the Gulf investments in Yemen during 1995-2005 had amounted to about $539 million, most of them were Saudi investments, while the Yemeni investments’ costs in the GCC states were $418 million during the same period.
Yemen seeks through a development ten-year plan supported by the donors to increase the annual economic growth rate from 4.1 percent currently to 7.1 percent for help access in the GCC economies, leading to Yemen have a full membership in GCC by 2015.