Yemen is to receive a $370m loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to support a three-year plan aimed at cutting the budget deficit and reducing poverty, Bloomberg has reported. "Yemen is confronted with a range of difficult economic challenges related to its heavy dependence on declining oil revenues, widespread poverty, and water shortages," Naoyuki Shinohara, the fund's deputy managing director, said in a statement. "The global financial crisis has aggravated these challenges through a reduction in world oil prices, resulting in mounting macroeconomic imbalances."