STC's Presidium: Urges Government to Get Non-Harmful Alternatives Instead of Ill-Studied Decisions of SEC

The Presidium of the Southern Transitional Council (STC) held its periodic meeting on Wednesday, chaired by Mr. Fadhl Mohammed Al-Gaadi, member of the Presidium of the STC and Deputy Secretary-General of the General Secretariat.

The Presidium stood before certain developments on the national landscape, foremost of which was the Council of Ministers’ approval of the decisions issued by the Supreme Economic Council (SEC) to raise the price of the customs exchange rate of the dollar and to increase the tariffs for some basic services, and the negative impact of these decisions on the daily lives of citizens.

In this regard, the Presidium reiterated its categorical rejection of those ill-considered decisions, as they will cause an increase in the burden on the daily living of citizens, as well as their direct economic impact on the commercial activities of the port of Aden and the importing movement, calling for the urgent return of those decisions to the table of the cabinet for discussion and the necessity to search for sound alternatives and resources to refund the state budget without harming the life of the citizen.

The Presidium, too, demanded the power-sharing government to reduce expenditures, adopt the principle of austerity, and not waste money on activities that are not related to the livelihood of citizens in light of the difficult economic conditions that our country is going through. In this regard, the Presidium expressed its rejection of the Aden Winter event to be held by the Ministry of Information, Culture, and Tourism, for which the government has approved millions of riyals, and directed the money instead to activities that promote and upgrade the reality of media, cultural, and tourism institutions or alleviate the suffering of employees who face difficult situations.

In a separate context, the Presidium stressed the need to link the community mediation project, which is being implemented by several organizations in the capital, Aden, to community committees that follow the local authorities, which are formally authorized to implement these tasks in coordination with the security services.

To the end of its meeting, the Presidium recommended the formation of a working group headed by the economic advisor to the President of the STC, Dr. Abdul-Salam Humaid, with the participation of the economic department in the General Secretariat, the committees in the National Assembly, and the Supreme Economic Committee (SEC) to search for appropriate solutions and alternative resources and submit them to the STC's ministers to present in government meetings.