Sana’a – (IINA)February 20 – Economic sources have expected that Danish products exported to Yemen would incur unexpected losses of over one billion riyals in the coming days. The sources justified the losses due to the decline in demand from Yemeni consumers to the Danish goods as a result of republishing some cartoons abusing Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) by Danish newspapers, Saba news agency reported. Yemeni people have begun a boycott campaign on the Danish goods, the sources said, adding that it would lead to heavy losses, to the Danish products dealers, greater than their losses in the first time when a Danish newspaper has published offensive cartoon of the Prophet.
The director general of foreign trade in Industry Ministry Fadel Muqbal expected that the Danish loss would reach in Yemen to YR 4 billion, in case the boycott becomes officially. Yemen’s imports from Denmark during 2007 reached YR 4.5 billion, Muqbal estimated, expecting that the demand to the Danish goods would decline to 30 percent from the total import of last year.
ZA/HA/IINA
20 Feb 2008