ReliefWeb

In This Edition

Yemen’s Electricity Sector and its Economic and Social Importance

Situation Analysis of the Electricity Sector in Yemen Damages, Losses and SocioEconomic Impact of Poor Electricity Supply in Yemen

National and Int’l. Efforts to Mitigate the Electricity Crisis in Yemen

Priority Solutions to Repair the Damaged Electricity Service in Yemen and Areas for Improvement

Introduction

The Electricity Sector is crucial for social and development growth. In addition to its contribution to GDP and generation of direct and indirect job opportunities, it responds to several other needs such as domestic use or economic activity in the production, business and service sectors. It also contributes to securing the requirements of economic and social development, as well as maximizing benefit for women, children and young people in the areas of education, health and livelihoods.

Therefore, access to electricity is critical to reducing poverty, as energy allows investments, innovations and new industries, which are engines to create jobs and achieve comprehensive growth for all as well as shared prosperity for entire economies. In other words, electricity is the main driving force for any economy, in terms of providing the necessary requirements for the full operationalization of economic, industrial, commercial, agriculture and service activities.

Nonetheless, electricity shortage in Yemen remains one of the most critical challenges to infrastructural stability, given its impacts and implications on the well - being and dynamism of any society. It also has negative impacts on the productive, industrial and farming sectors, and thereby the overall social and economic growth and development in Yemen. It poses a stumbling block to economic growth and undermines efforts designed to alleviate poverty in particular. It, too, prevents children, women and young people from utilizing key services like health, education, while it limits access to improve livelihoods.

Bearing that in mind, the importance of electricity in Yemen is paramount to achieving general objectives and goals represented by peace – building, social cohesion, reconstruction and operationalization of economic and productive sectors. This, of course, requires a sufficient and constant supply of electricity for all service and commodity production sectors.

Hence, this issue sheds particular light on the economic role of electricity sector, and diagnose the status quo, including the major repercussions of the war and conflict on the sector, and the key challenges faced by the sector all the way down to reach full recovery.