THULA, YEMEN // In a blue bonnet and floral-patterned gown, Anut arrived for her rations, listlessly, in the arms of her brother, 10-year-old Bashir.
Anut, who is two, should be bursting with energy, but her frail, undernourished body shows signs of exhaustion. Her condition is typical of villagers who come for food handouts at the small government hospital in Thula, a dusty warren of 7,000 people about an hour's drive north-west of Yemen's capital, Sana'a.
"We have food in our markets, but many find difficulty in buying it," said Anut's uncle, Yahya Salama, 42, whose grizzled, weathered face suggests a man well beyond his years.
"Everything is becoming expensive, but there is no way to get more money, and families keep having more and more children."
Beset by insurgency, secessionist fervour in the south, daily influxes of refugees fleeing the Horn of Africa and al Qa'eda's presence in the country, reports from Yemen suggest a country on the brink of disaster.
But residents of Thula - and increasing numbers of other Yemenis - suffer from what humanitarian workers here say is perhaps the country's least publicised crisis: widespread malnourishment, brought on by grinding poverty.
Thula's residents are not refugees displaced by the government's war on Shiite rebels in the Sa'ada governorate, a few hours north of here. Nor are they any more indigent than many of their 23 million compatriots, who predominantly reside in rural areas.
They are cucumber farmers, primary school teachers or simply members of Yemen's roughly eight million unemployed.
Accompanied by his three young children, Mr Salama visits the hospital each month for such basic staples as vitamin-fortified flour and sugar distributed free of charge to residents by the World Food Programme (WFP).
"Even if you have work, it's not enough to buy enough food," Mr Salama said. He earns just over US$100 [Dh367] a month as an English teacher at a local primary school. He is the family breadwinner.
"Believe me - my children beg me to come here."
The food aid, he said, "is keeping them from becoming too thin".
Yemen is the Arab world's poorest country. Roughly half of its population scrimps on $2 a day. The country is long on such facts. For starters, according to United Nations statistics, it has one of the world's highest rates of child poverty: nearly half are undernourished and a further 58 per cent experience stunted growth, a percentage point below that of Afghanistan.
But, says Giancarlo Cirri, the Yemen country director for the WFP, a UN body that provides various forms of aid throughout the country, poverty in general is reaching alarming levels.
"Yemen is in a situation of crisis on many, many fronts," he said. "Food insecurity and malnutrition is definitely one of these fronts."
Although precise figures are lacking, Mr Cirri said, new research was "showing a sharp increase in poverty in Yemen".
"The International Food Policy Research Institute, for example, estimates that from 2006 to date poverty has increased by 25 per cent.
"It is extremely worrisome."
The primary causes, he and others here say, can be pinpointed to a recent maelstrom of economic and political factors.
Oil exports, accounting for 70 per cent of government revenues, have fallen dramatically, forcing the ministry of finance last year to call on all ministries to cut expenditures by half - including those on social welfare projects. Poor farming practices and drier weather are rapidly depleting water supplies. And the increasing scarcity of water, according to aid workers, has begun uprooting some rural communities to search for new sources.
Despite a slight easing following a surge two years ago, food prices have remained high as the government scales back its vast, expensive petrol subsidies.
Many complain about shortages of cooking gas. Its price has doubled over the past year; queues to purchase it can last hours and, in places like Sana'a, have erupted in sporadic rioting.
Meanwhile, remittance payments from expatriate Yemenis are falling as the financial crisis takes it toll, while population growth, one of the world's highest, surges ahead at roughly three per cent a year.
The result, says Abdo Seif, an adviser for the United Nations Development Programme, is essentially a reversal of what marginal poverty-reduction successes had been achieved over the past decade. "We don't have firm empirical evidence yet, but based on what we've seen from the food commodity crisis, it appears that poverty has basically returned to the same levels as 1998."
Part of this can be attributed to poorly funded government efforts to address hunger, such as the Social Welfare Fund, he said. "It's not funded adequately enough to meet the daily calorie demands for people.
"It's recommended that over 2,000 Yemeni riyals [Dh36] be given per person every month to secure the target of 2,000 calories a day.
"But the Social Welfare Fund is giving 2,000 riyals per family, and the average family is almost six to seven people."
At the hospital in the Thula, several residents said they were unaware of the fund.
Helping to fill that gap are staples delivered by a WFP lorry, which unloads in front of the hospital's entrance. Gaggles of gaunt boys, some brandishing the traditional knife of Yemen, the jambiya, wait for their share of the spoils.
Inside, WFP staff and the hospital's three physicians and 12 nurses wrap tape measures around children's arms to measure body mass.
Mothers who have recently given birth receive vitamin supplements and basic health advice, such as the proper way to treat chronic diarrhoea among infants, which can lead to dehydration, and if not treated, can be fatal.
But funding constraints have limited WFP efforts, Mr Cirri said.Physicians complain that limited funding from the government has led to a shortage of medical supplies at the hospital.
"We don't have good labs, we lack enough vitamins for pregnant woman, like folic acid. We don't even have an ambulance," Waleed Saleh, a general physician at the hospital, said.
Some lab equipment, such as those used for examining blood samples, has been broken for months, he said. Shelves in the in-house pharmacy are all but bare, except for smatterings of antibiotics and miscellaneous medications.
Asked if he expected an improvement in hospital funding any time soon, Dr Saleh said: "Things are getting worse.
"There are many, many problems in Yemen."
@Email:hnaylor@thenational.ae
Seemar’s top six for the Dubai World Cup Carnival:
1. Reynaldothewizard
2. North America
3. Raven’s Corner
4. Hawkesbury
5. New Maharajah
6. Secret Ambition
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Tips for job-seekers
- Do not submit your application through the Easy Apply button on LinkedIn. Employers receive between 600 and 800 replies for each job advert on the platform. If you are the right fit for a job, connect to a relevant person in the company on LinkedIn and send them a direct message.
- Make sure you are an exact fit for the job advertised. If you are an HR manager with five years’ experience in retail and the job requires a similar candidate with five years’ experience in consumer, you should apply. But if you have no experience in HR, do not apply for the job.
David Mackenzie, founder of recruitment agency Mackenzie Jones Middle East
David Haye record
Total fights: 32
Wins: 28
Wins by KO: 26
Losses: 4
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
FIXTURES
Fixtures for Round 15 (all times UAE)
Friday
Inter Milan v AS Roma (11.45pm)
Saturday
Atalanta v Verona (6pm)
Udinese v Napoli (9pm)
Lazio v Juventus (11.45pm)
Sunday
Lecce v Genoa (3.30pm)
Sassuolo v Cagliari (6pm)
SPAL v Brescia (6pm)
Torino v Fiorentina (6pm)
Sampdoria v Parma (9pm)
Bologna v AC Milan (11.45pm)
Frida%20
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ECarla%20Gutierrez%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarring%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Frida%20Kahlo%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%204%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
Credit Score explained
What is a credit score?
In the UAE your credit score is a number generated by the Al Etihad Credit Bureau (AECB), which represents your credit worthiness – in other words, your risk of defaulting on any debt repayments. In this country, the number is between 300 and 900. A low score indicates a higher risk of default, while a high score indicates you are a lower risk.
Why is it important?
Financial institutions will use it to decide whether or not you are a credit risk. Those with better scores may also receive preferential interest rates or terms on products such as loans, credit cards and mortgages.
How is it calculated?
The AECB collects information on your payment behaviour from banks as well as utilitiy and telecoms providers.
How can I improve my score?
By paying your bills on time and not missing any repayments, particularly your loan, credit card and mortgage payments. It is also wise to limit the number of credit card and loan applications you make and to reduce your outstanding balances.
How do I know if my score is low or high?
By checking it. Visit one of AECB’s Customer Happiness Centres with an original and valid Emirates ID, passport copy and valid email address. Liv. customers can also access the score directly from the banking app.
How much does it cost?
A credit report costs Dh100 while a report with the score included costs Dh150. Those only wanting the credit score pay Dh60. VAT is payable on top.
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDate%20started%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202020%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Khaldoon%20Bushnaq%20and%20Tariq%20Seksek%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Abu%20Dhabi%20Global%20Market%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20HealthTech%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20staff%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20100%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunding%20to%20date%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%2415%20million%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Vault%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EJune%202023%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ECo-founders%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EBilal%20Abou-Diab%20and%20Sami%20Abdul%20Hadi%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EAbu%20Dhabi%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ELicensed%20by%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Abu%20Dhabi%20Global%20Market%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EIndustry%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EInvestment%20and%20wealth%20advisory%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunding%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E%241%20million%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EOutliers%20VC%20and%20angel%20investors%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20employees%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E14%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
