Economy - overview: | Yemen, one of the poorest countries in the Arab world, reported strong growth in the mid-1990s with the onset of oil production. It has been harmed by periodic declines in oil prices, but now benefits from current high prices. Yemen has embarked on an IMF-supported structural adjustment program designed to modernize and streamline the economy, which has led to substantial foreign debt relief and restructuring. International donors, meeting in Paris in October 2002, agreed on a further $2.3 billion economic support package. Yemen has worked to maintain tight control over spending and to implement additional components of the IMF program. A markedly high population growth rate and internal political dissension complicate the government's task. Plans include a diversification of the economy, encouragement of tourism, and more efficient use of scarce water resources. |
| GDP: | purchasing power parity - $15.09 billion (2004 est.) |
| GDP - real growth rate: | 2.8% (2004 est.) |
| GDP - per capita: | purchasing power parity - $800 (2004 est.) |
| GDP - composition by sector: | agriculture: 15.2%
industry: 45%
services: 39.7% (2004 est.) |
| Investment (gross fixed): | 29.1% of GDP (2004 est.) |
| Population below poverty line: | 15.7% (2004) |
| Household income or consumption by percentage share: | lowest 10%: 3%
highest 10%: 25.9% (2003) |
| Distribution of family income - Gini index: | 33.4 (1998) |
| Inflation rate (consumer prices): | 10.8% (2004 est.) |
| Labor force: | 5.79 million (2004 est.) |
| Labor force - by occupation: | most people are employed in agriculture and herding; services, construction, industry, and commerce account for less than one-fourth of the labor force |
| Unemployment rate: | 35% (2003 est.) |
| Budget: | revenues: $3.729 billion
expenditures: $4.107 billion, including capital expenditures of NA (2004 est.) |
| Public debt: | 39.5% of GDP (2004 est.) |
| Agriculture - products: | grain, fruits, vegetables, pulses, qat (mildly narcotic shrub), coffee, cotton; dairy products, livestock (sheep, goats, cattle, camels), poultry; fish |
| Industries: | crude oil production and petroleum refining; small-scale production of cotton textiles and leather goods; food processing; handicrafts; small aluminum products factory; cement |
| Industrial production growth rate: | 3% (2003 est.) |
| Electricity - production: | 3.01 billion kWh (2001) |
| Electricity - consumption: | 2.8 billion kWh (2001) |
| Electricity - exports: | 0 kWh (2001) |
| Electricity - imports: | 0 kWh (2001) |
| Oil - production: | 438,500 bbl/day (2004 est.) |
| Oil - consumption: | 74,000 bbl/day (2001 est.) |
| Oil - exports: | NA (2001) |
| Oil - imports: | NA (2001) |
| Oil - proved reserves: | 3.2 billion bbl (2004) |
| Natural gas - production: | 0 cu m (2001 est.) |
| Natural gas - consumption: | 0 cu m (2001 est.) |
| Natural gas - exports: | 0 cu m (2001 est.) |
| Natural gas - imports: | 0 cu m (2001 est.) |
| Natural gas - proved reserves: | 480 billion cu m (2004) |
| Current account balance: | $157 million (2004 est.) |
| Exports: | $3.92 billion f.o.b. (2004 est.) |
| Exports - commodities: | crude oil, coffee, dried and salted fish |
| Exports - partners: | China 31.7%, Thailand 20.3%, India 15.6%, South Korea 4.9%, Malaysia 4.3% (2003) |
| Imports: | $3.042 billion f.o.b. (2003 est.) |
| Imports - commodities: | food and live animals, machinery and equipment, chemicals |
| Imports - partners: | UAE 12.9%, Saudi Arabia 10.2%, China 8.9%, US 4.9%, Kuwait 4.4%, France 4.1% (2003) |
| Reserves of foreign exchange & gold: | $5.009 billion (2004 est.) |
| Debt - external: | $6.044 billion (2004 est.) |
| Economic aid - recipient: | $2.3 billion (2003-07 disbursements) |
| Currency: | Yemeni rial (YER) |
| Currency code: | YER |
| Exchange rates: | Yemeni rials per US dollar - NA (2003), 175.625 (2002), 168.672 (2001), 161.718 (2000), 155.718 (1999) |
| Fiscal year: | calendar year
Source: CIA World Factbook
|
