Economy

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, but was harmed by low oil prices in 1998. Yemen has embarked on an IMF-supported structural adjustment program designed to modernize and streamline the economy, which has led to foreign debt relief and restructuring. Aided by higher oil prices in 1999, Yemen worked to maintain tight control over spending and implement additional components of the IMF program. The high population growth rate of 3.4% and internal political dissension complicate the government's task.

GDP: purchasing power parity - $12.7 billion (1999 est.)

GDP - real growth rate: 4% (1999 est.)

GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $750 (1999 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 20%
industry: 42%
services: 38% (1998)

Population below poverty line: NA%

Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 2.3%
highest 10%: 30.8% (1992)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 10% (1999 est.)

Labor force: NA

Labor force - by occupation: most people are employed in agriculture and herding or as expatriate laborers; services, construction, industry, and commerce account for less than one-half of the labor force

Unemployment rate: 30% (1995 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $1.8 billion
expenditures: $1.95 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (1999 est.)

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: NA%

Electricity - production: 2.24 billion kWh (1998)

Electricity - production by source:
fossil fuel: 100%
hydro: 0%
nuclear: 0%
other: 0% (1998)

Electricity - consumption: 2.083 billion kWh (1998)

Electricity - exports: 0 kWh (1998)

Electricity - imports: 0 kWh (1998)

Agriculture - products: grain, fruits, vegetables, qat (mildly narcotic shrub), coffee, cotton; dairy products, poultry, beef; fish

Exports: $2 billion (f.o.b., 1999 est.)

Exports - commodities: crude oil, cotton, coffee, dried and salted fish

Exports - partners: China 31%, South Korea 25%, Thailand 22%, Japan 5% (1998 est.)

Imports: $2.3 billion (f.o.b., 1999 est.)

Imports - commodities: food and live animals, machinery and equipment, manufactured goods

Imports - partners: US 9%, UAE 8%, France 8%, Italy 7%, Saudi Arabia 7% (1998 est.)

Debt - external: $4.5 billion (1999)

Economic aid - recipient: $176.1 million (1995)

Currency: Yemeni rial (YER) = 100 fils

Exchange rates: Yemeni rials (YER) per US$1 - 159.70 (January 2000), 160.700 (first quarter 1999), 135.882 (1998), 129.281 (1997), 94.157 (1996), 40.839 (1995)