The poorest country in the Middle East does not have time on its side. Yemen’s oil reserves, its main source of export earnings, will run out in 10 years, according to the IMF. Oil production has been declining since 2000.

Yemen needs to rapidly develop the non-oil sectors of its economy so it can escape its current status as one of the slowest-growing countries in the region.

Real gross domestic product is forecast to grow at just 3.6 per cent this year, compared with 7.3 per cent in Egypt, 5.4 per cent in Tunisia and 5 per cent in Morocco - all countries where the average person struggles to get by on a low income.

Under the control of the General Peoples’ Congress, the Yemeni government has chased GCC membership as the panacea to its ills. The GCC, however, has no plans to admit Yemen before 2015.

The country would do better to adopt the North African states’ route to faster growth, by opening its economy to greater foreign direct investment and making it easier to start new businesses.

Egypt, which has liberalised more quickly than the other North African countries, has been rewarded with the fastest rate of economic growth outside the Gulf and soaring levels of foreign investment.

Yemen has shown the first signs of progress. On 1 February, work began on a $176m project to develop the country’s first industrial-scale mine. Inward investment could finally be on its way.