The added value contributed by the small industries sector in Yemen grew by 34 percent in 1999, with revenues up to YR 34 billion by the end of the year.
The General Director of the Small Industries Promoting Authority in the Yemeni Ministry of Industry, Nabil Rizq, was reported in Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, as saying that the authority had funded 255 small industrial projects costing YR 123.5 million last year. This figure, he stated, represents a YR 54 million increment , or 75 percent, compared with 1998.
The Small Industries Promoting Authority is the first Yemeni corporation to specialize in financing small investors.
Moreover, Rizq said that the Yemeni long-term economic plan is based on economic diversification, geared toward the maximizing of revenues.
He added, that this plan aims to increase the annual per capita income in the country from the present $350 to somewhere between $2,000-$3,000 during the first quarter of this century. To achieve this goal, Yemen will have to raise the local economic growth rate from the current four percent to 10 percent, during this period. In addition, Yemen will be required to lower the local population growth rate, which currently stands at 3.5 percent annually. — (Albawaba-MEBG)
