Yemen Faces Negative Impacts of Oil Price Decline

The state budget will lose about $359 million this year if the oil price hits $65 a barrel, and if it drops to $50 per barrel, the total loss will be nearly $504 million, according to the Undersecretary of the Finance Ministry Ahmed Hajar.

The government’s share of crude oil is estimated to be 38 million barrels in 2015, explained Hajar during a seminar organized on Saturday by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in cooperation with the Economic Observatory for Studies and Consultations the Sana’a on the effects of lower oil prices on the Yemeni economy and the government budget.

The total oil production is expected to reach 169,000 barrels per day and the natural gas production should reach 167,000 barrels a day, Hajar added.

Hassan al-Kaboos, head of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in the capital Sana’a, affirmed the importance of the seminar for clarifying the direct and indirect effects of lower oil prices on the national economy.

Al-Kaboos pointed to the significance of oil and its derivatives for industry, agriculture, commerce and all areas of the modern economy as an essential and assistant factor in all these activities.