The true oil subsidies bill in Yemen in the past ten years was estimated at about $15,8 billion, an economist has said in a recent study.
Planning and development policies expert at the planning ministry, Al-Bataly, said despite reforms backed by the IMF, all reforms have been delayed and not implemented as an integrated package.
Key reforms have been focused on reducing the state budget deficit without taking into account the social and development dimensions, the study said, pointing out these reforms focused on conditions to remove oil subsidies but did not allocate funds for social programs. This and the increasing gab between the budget and development priorities remained crucial problems, the study titled the fiscal policies said.
The budget usually does not consider social and development dimensions, rather is reflected on current expenses that never go in line with development priorities, it said. And as a result, planning and fiscal programming are almost absent, especially amid the limited resources, it added.
The public spending has been suffering from structural disorders a year after another and the successive increases in the average current expenses from the overall public spending as well as the net lending show this clearly, it said.