World Bank and IMF pressure Yemen to end fuel subsidies

Sanaa suffers from an ongoing fuel crisis The Middle East and North Africa World Bank Managing Director, Dr Merza Hasan, arrived in Sanaa on Thursday in a visit believed to be aimed at \"putting pressure\" on Yemen to end fuel subsidies. Before receiving funds from the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and donor nations, Yemen must first end government subsidies for fuel, a member of parliament revealed to Arab Today.
The source said that the government intends to issue a decree ending the subsidies, and is a move the government will be \"forced\" to take to meet the necessary requirements and thus receive the economic reform package.
On Tuesday, Yemeni parliament’s website quoted parliament member Azam Salah as saying that the ministry of finance and international planning \"signed an agreement with donors in Washington\" in March to remove government subsidies for fuel as a condition for international financial assistance.
Yemeni economist Ali Al-Wafi blamed the move on the government’s insufficient financial resources, not ruling out a possibility that Yemen\'s government may \"fail\" to move forward with the expected decree.  
“The government has been completely unable to achieve the aspirations of the Yemeni people,\"  Ali Al-Wafi said. \"Removing the subsidies will be a difficult move for them to make.”