Setting Up A Business In Yemen
Yemen is one of the developing nations in the Arabian Peninsula and is known as an undiscovered gem. It is one of those countries which have a very rich civilization. The history of Yemen can be traced back to the 6th century. The country passed through different rules during the centuries and today it is the 49th largest country in the world. The Arabian Desert prevented human settlements in Yemen until recently. Geographically the country can be divided into four main regions. Among all the countries of Arabia, Yemen gets the maximum rainfall. The agriculture carried out here is very diverse. The temperature is hot during the day but fall drastically during the night. There exist a large number of perennial streams in Yemen but they do not reach the sea as they get evaporated in between.
The economy of Yemen is poor as efficient utilization of its resources is not carried out. It has dwindling resources which if utilized effectively can provide a very effective boost to the struggling economy. Unlike most of the Arab countries Yemen has a very low oil resource. The majority of taxes earned by the government come from oil. Yemen also has a very large and rich natural gas resource. Yemen also has it first liquefied natural gas plant. Though the oil resource is expected to get depleted by 2011 the economy can withstand the collapse by effective utilization of natural gas resource. Foreign investments are largely concentrated on the nation's hydrocarbon industry. The government of Yemen has formed many programs along with IMF for improving the economic condition of the country.
The programs which have been established by the employment government along with IMF have been focused on increasing the employment rate, strengthening the financial stability and focusing more on increasing revenue from non oil sector. Yemen also ranked as 43 out of 183 nations for being the least restrictive in constructing building. Yemen also passed law by which even non Yemenites can purchase property and construct buildings. The new tax law passed could effectively reduce the taxation on business profit from 35% to 20%.
There are 7 procedures for starting business in Yemen and it takes up to 13 days and 93% of the GNI per capita. First a specimen application obtained from the Commercial Register has to be filled in. Then the required capital has to be deposited in the bank. The business must be registered with the Ministry of Trade and Industry for name registration, license application and AOA signature. Registration with the General taxes is also required for payment of income tax, and getting the taxation card. The employees must also be registered for the taxes. Apply for the chamber of Commerce of Commerce membership. License can be obtained by registering with the municipality. Taking into consideration social security of the employees they also must be registered.
To make more foreign companies establish themselves in Yemen the government has reduced the registration fees of large and small companies. Small business companies need not pay for registration but need to be registered for expanding their business in the future. Real estate law has also been reformed to reduce the number of procedures required for establishing the real estate business and also reducing the property issues.
