Lawmakers drafted a bill to start a securities exchange authority in Yemen, hoping to speed up the opening of a bourse and encourage investment despite its sinking economy and severe security risks. “For us to move out of the challenges we face, we need a lot of investment in the development of Yemen, whether it's domestic or foreign...a strong stock market would help that,” Jalal Yaqoub, a spokesman for the minister of finance, said. There is little chance seen of significant investment in Yemen in the near future, apart from its oil industry. The government hopes that establishing a bourse authority will create a better economic environment, but it will likely be considered a small achievement in the face of Yemen's instability, poor infrastructure, and corruption. Impoverished Yemen faces an increasingly violent struggle with southern secessionists just as it is endeavoring to cement a truce with northern rebels after a six-year war that has displaced 350,000 people. Many analysts say the biggest existential threat to the government is its economy, with nearly a third of the workforce jobless and more than 40 percent of the country's 23 million people surviving on under $2 a day. Corruption also pervades life in Yemen. The country lies near the bottom of Transparency International's corruption index, ranking 154 out of 180 countries last year. Yaqoub said the bill which parliament has drafted to establish a securities exchange authority would ensure the bourse's transparency and protect investor money. The bill now needs final approval from the president. Yaqoub rejected the idea that there would be little interest in a Yemeni exchange, citing internal investment. “There are considerable funds in the domestic market but it needs to be channeled properly,” he said. Lawmakers hope that by establishing an authority, the process of opening the bourse will be sped up. But Yaqoub would not give a specific date for starting the authority or the stock market, saying it would happen “sooner rather than later”.
