With the new issue of treasury bills last week, the total value of all outstanding T-bills issued by the Central Bank of Yemen on behalf of the State of Yemen is close to YR 100 billion. While most of the money goes to finance the deficit in the government budget, some of its is used as a tool to dampen inflationary pressures by withdrawing purchasing power from consumers.
Mr. Abdullah Al-Olofi, Deputy Governor of the Central Bank, indicated that the average interest rate paid on the T-bills is 18%. He also indicated that there should not be worries about repayment. "These bills are recycled. As old bills mature, new ones are issued," he said.

 

One of the biggest problems of the budget of the Government of Yemen is the disproportionate amount of payroll expenditures. Of the total budget, some 60-70% goes to salaries.
The situation in the Ministry of Education gives a glaring picture of the situation. Dr. Yahia Al-Shu'aibi, the Minister, told the Yemen Times that the number of teachers and support staff has reached 206,000. "We are trying to transfer to 30,000 persons to a fund to be established by the Ministry of Civil Service," he indicated.

 

At the end of the official visit of Mr. Mohammed Saleh Al-Hourani, Jordan's Minister of Trade & Industry, to Sanaa, Yemen and Jordan agreed to set up a team of experts to develop ways and means to activate bilateral trade. The two countries had signed an agreement last year to set up a joint free trade zone, but nothing happened.
Along with the minister, 35 trade and industry delegates came to Yemen and set up an exhibition in Sanaa.

 

During the period March 1-12 of 1999, Suzuki Yemen, one of the Ba-Ma'aroof companies, will sponsor a training program in Aden. Mr. Ali Abubakar Ajroomah, General Manager of the company, disclosed that the program will include emergency life-saving drills, first-aid, and proper reactions to explosions, fires, etc.
At the end of the program, which is implemented in collaboration with the Aden Civil Defence, trainees will receive certificates. Aden's governor kicked off the effort.

 

The New York Times, arguably the world's most influential newspaper, ran an article on March 4th by Wayne Robins shedding light on how the internet has given us access to newspapers in remote corners of the world. He was pointing to the excellence that now abounds and comes together in the world of media, even from small newspapers. He mentioned several newspapers that are available online.

Here is what he said about the Yemen Times:
Quote
"The Yemen Times, for instance, an independent weekly published in Sanaa, the capital, did a resourceful job a few weeks ago in presenting the context for the recent kidnapping and disastrous rescue of British and Australian tourists (www.yementimes.com). But even more interesting was a deeply personal letter from the paper's editor, answering a Government accusation that he was 'working for Western intelligence agencies, international Zionism and the Masonic movement.' " Unquote.

 

Some fifty pro-democracy activists representing a wide political spectrum met on Saturday, February 6th, to discuss the visible deterioration in Yemen's political environment.
Professor Hassan Ba-Zara'ah, Chairman of the Yemen Office of Rabitat Abna Al-Yaman, the host, gave the gathering evidence of the deterioration. "That is the evidence on erosion of the level of tolerance and plurality," he concluded.

Mr. Mohammed Al-Ruabyi who chaired the meeting warned of the grave consequences to these developments. He then invited ideas and proposals as to what can be done.
The group adopted a proposal put forth by Professor Abdulaziz Al-Saqqaf, Chairman of the Consultative Council's Human Rights, Liberties and NGOs. "We need to urge President Ali Abdullah to issue a law specifying the tasks, role, tools and budget of the Political Security Organization. "From my experience, most of the violation is committed by PSO. If PSO is brought within the law, then many of the violations will disappear," Saqqaf pointed out.
The group plans another meeting for next week.

 

The two million members of the People's General Congress (PGC) are going to elect new leaders. Elections have already started in 620 local branches. By late April, elections will take place at the governorate level. In July, the Sixth Convention of the PGC will be held in Sanaa, in which all top leadership posts will be up for grabs.

 

The General Secretariat and the Central Committee of the Yemeni Journalists' Syndicate met on Saturday March 6th, 1999. They decided to hold the Second General Conference during 15-17 March, 1999.
Representatives of the Federation of Arab journalists and other organizations have been invited to attend.

 

The Consultative Council started on Sunday, March 7th, a three-day hearing on health services in the Republic of Yemen. The Minister of Health and many senior staff members are presenting documents and studies about the situation of health services in various fields. The CC will then present recommendations for a plan of action.

 

Sanaa city will witness the opening of The World's Finest and Leading Tinting System from Jotun Paints.

Jotun's color mixing system was introduced in 1974 and has been thoroughly tested in every detail. Today, the Jotun's patent Multicolor system offers customer a choice of 16,000 colours from the data base. The Multicolor centre showroom is located at Zubairi Aser and will be inaugurated at 10am, on March 11th, 1999.

The Multicolor center/showroom will soon become a center for colour designing and painting techniques in Yemen and will be manned by an expert to help and guide the customers in their choice of colours and to assist them in their use. Engineers, architects and interior designers will greatly benefit from the facilities offered in this showroom.

Added to it, the colour scanner, which is a part of the tinting system can scan and match any colour under the sun, be it a piece of fabric or painted sample. Not only that, Jotun's multicolor system also incorporates a colour vision display unit whereby the customer can match and visualize the effect of the selected colour scheme before buying.

"With the opening of showrooms in Sanaa and Taiz and more activities from Jotun Paints, we promise to change the image of paint industry in Yemen and upgrade it to the international standards in the way of quality, choice and colours," said Mr. Rashad Hayel Saeed, General Manager of Widyan Trading Company Ltd., Aden. They are the sole selling agents in the Republic of Yemen.