History of Yemen
Yemen has a rich history – the kingdom of Mine lasted from 1200 to 650 BC. Its main wealth was incense and spices. In the 10th century BC. the kingdom of Saba arose, on the territory of which the kingdoms of Kataban and Hadramot were located. The last of the great dynastic states was the kingdom of Himyar, which existed from the 1st century BC. BC e. before 500 AD
4th to 6th centuries AD Yemen was occupied by the Kingdom of Abyssinia (modern Ethiopia) and later by Persia. In the 7th century the era of Islam began: Arab rulers ruled the country until the 16th century. In the 16th century The Portuguese captured the island of Socotra and from there unsuccessfully tried to take control of Aden. Later, the Egyptian Mamluks captured Sana’a, but Aden did not submit to them. In 1517, the Ottoman Empire conquered Egypt, and in 1538, most of Yemen, which had been under their rule for almost a century.
The process of dividing Yemen into two states began with the capture of Aden by the British in 1839 and with the re-occupation of Sanaa by the Ottoman Empire in 1849. In the 2nd half. 19th century both powers strengthened their positions, and in the beginning. 20th century A border was drawn dividing the region into North Yemen and South Yemen. North Yemen declared independence in 1918 and was a constitutional monarchy until 1962. In 1962, the Yemeni Arab Republic was proclaimed. South Yemen remained under British rule until 1967, and in 1970 the People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen was proclaimed. On May 21, 1990, the two countries were reunited.
Economy of Yemen
According to cheeroutdoor, Yemen is an agricultural country. GDP at current prices $8.5 billion, per capita $459 (2001). The share of agriculture, including forestry, hunting, fishing, accounted for 15.3% of GDP, mining – 33.8%, manufacturing – 7.5%, services – 19.4%, trade, restaurants and hotels – 8.6%. The share in world GDP in 1998 was less than 0.01%. The number of economically active population is 4119 thousand people. (1999). Most of it is employed in agriculture – 48.4%, in trade, restaurants and hotels – 10.8%, in social services – 10%, in public administration – 9.4%.
The most developed branches of industry are oil-producing and oil-refining, energy, cotton-cleaning, textile, food flavoring (including enterprises for processing coffee, manufacturing tobacco products, etc.). In addition, handicraft production of household utensils, fabrics, leather and footwear, pottery and jewelry, edged weapons is developed.
The main branch of agriculture is agriculture. The main agricultural crop grown for export is coffee; date palm, grapes, fruit trees (figs, apricots, mangoes, pomegranates), industrial and aromatic crops (sesame, cotton, tobacco, ginger) are also cultivated. The main food crops are durra, barley, wheat, corn, legumes, and vegetables. In the desert and semi-desert regions in the south and southeast of the country, oasis agriculture is developed (cereals, industrial crops, vegetables, tropical fruits, coconut and date palms). Cattle breeding is developed: sheep, goats, cattle, mainly zebu, as well as camels, donkeys. In the Jebel region – beekeeping. The geographical position of the country, the considerable length of the coastline contribute to the development of fishing, sea fishing, and pearling.
There are no railways in Yemen. The length of highways is 69,263 km, of which only 9,963 km are hard-surfaced (paved). The length of oil pipelines is 644 km for crude oil and 32 km for oil products. Main ports: Aden, Hodeidah, Al-Mukalla, As-Salif, Ras Issa, Nishtun. Aden is widely known in the world as a major bunkering and trading port. The merchant fleet has 44 vessels with a total capacity of 73.8 thousand tons.
There are 49 airports in the country, incl. with paved runways – 16. In 1998, 765 thousand passengers were transported. The volume of cargo transportation is 120 million tkm.
The length of telephone lines in 1999 was 291,359 km, the number of mobile cellular telephones was 32,042. There is GSM mobile communication via satellite ground stations. After the unification of both parts of Yemen, the task was to create a national telecommunications network. Currently there are radio stations (AM 6, AM 1, two shortwave). There are 470,000 televisions in the country. The number of Internet users is 17 thousand (2002).
Widely developed wholesale and retail trade, services. Wholesale trade is carried out by the Ministry of Trade and the organization “Al-Muassas al-Askaria”. There are many bazaars in the country, incl. souk al-melh, souk al-kat, souk al-aidrus, trading shops. Large-scale handicraft production flourishes in Sanaa, whose products are sold in the famous market for gold, silver, leather and carpets. Tourism in Yemen is less developed than in other countries of the Near and Middle East.
Prior to unification in the PDRY, the Yemeni Socialist Party was in power, and economic policy was based on the dominance of the public sector in the economic life of the country, central planning. International cooperation was limited mainly to ties with the countries of the socialist camp. Such an economic policy played a negative role in a number of cases, since it did not contribute to the improvement of the production potential, did not use the possibilities of the private sector to solve the problems of overcoming economic backwardness, etc. The northern part of Yemen showed a completely opposite picture. Here, in the YAR, a market economic policy was pursued, in which investment opportunities were provided to both state and private national capital. Foreign economic relations were also wider. The main goals of the program of socio-economic transformations after the unification of South and North Yemen were: overcoming the grave consequences of the split of the country, carrying out political, economic, financial and administrative reforms, and developing an alternative to the previous development models. A course was set for the gradual liberalization of the economy. The main goals of the social policy are: expansion of the education and healthcare systems, improvement of the living standards of the population.
Control over the issue of money and money circulation in the country is carried out by the Central Bank of Yemen. There are also commercial and specialized banks. The reserves of the Central Bank in 2001 amounted to 3672.7 million dollars, incl. in foreign currency – 3639.6 million dollars, in special drawing rights of the IMF – 18.5 million and in gold – 14.6 million dollars. The amount of money in circulation – 282.7 million rials.
According to estimates for 2001, state budget revenues amounted to 3 billion dollars, expenditures 3.1 billion. According to the budget for 1999, revenues amounted to 360.7 billion rials, expenditures 342.9 billion. The main budget revenue items in 1999 were taxes, the amount of which amounted to 89.7 billion rials (24.8% of all income), incl. direct 32.1 billion and indirect – 59.4 billion rials. The main items of expenditure (in % of the total amount): for public administration, state subsidies, security (33.7), education (21.3), defense (17.8), public debt service (12.9). External debt $4.7 billion (2001).
The standard of living of the population remains one of the lowest in the world. Not all residents can find work in their homeland and are forced to go abroad to work, mainly to Saudi Arabia. The average wage in industry in 2000 was $700 per month. The consumer price index in 1999 was 264 (1994=100). Spending on private consumption in 2000 was 57.7%, on public consumption 14%, and gross capital investment 18.2% of GDP.
Yemen exports crude oil, coffee, dried and salted fish. Main export partners: Thailand (34% of total exports), China (26%), South Korea (14%), Singapore (9%), Japan (3%). Yemen imports mainly food and livestock, machinery and equipment, vehicles, chemicals, etc. The value of imports is $3 billion (2001). Main import partners: Saudi Arabia (10% of total value), United Arab Emirates (8%), France (7%), USA (7%), Italy (6%) (1999).
