The exchange rate crisis has eased.. $120 million is pumped into the market and a Saudi deposit is coming
English - Tuesday 19 October 2021 الساعة 03:28 pm
Aden, NewsYemen, special:
A senior source in the Central Bank of Yemen, Aden, revealed that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia agreed to pump 120 million dollars into the Yemeni market, the remaining amount out of the Saudi deposit of 2 billion dollars.
The source confirmed to "Newsmen" that during the next few days, 120 million dollars will be withdrawn and pumped into the market to support basic foodstuffs, after stopping since March 2020.
The source said that the Yemeni government and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia have reached advanced understandings regarding the deposit of a new Saudi deposit, not less than $3 billion, after the Yemeni government committed to implementing the conditions associated with the deposit.
He added, "The conditions were represented by the Yemeni government's commitment to collecting resources, transparency in deposit disbursement processes, and fighting corruption."
The financial breakthrough comes at a time when the Yemeni economy and commercial activity are suffering from complete paralysis, and confusion among the people, due to the halting of commercial operations and the closure of wholesale and retail stores, due to the deterioration of the price of the riyal to low levels and the rise in the prices of goods and services.
The price of one dollar reached 1360 riyals, and the Saudi riyal reached 360 riyals, in banking transactions during the second half of October.
Financial experts expected that the Yemeni riyal price will witness an improvement in the coming days, with the market injecting cash amounts of hard currency, and it will decline to 800 riyals to the dollar.
They said, with the improvement in oil prices of $84 per barrel, the release of $120 million the rest of the Saudi deposit, the arrival of the new Saudi deposit, the withdrawal of Yemen’s allocations from the International Monetary Fund amounting to $650 million, and the release of the central bank’s frozen balances in the Bank of England, amounting to about 100 Million dollars, factors that curb the inflation of the exchange rate.
Saudi Arabia had provided financial support to the Yemeni economy, amounting to more than $2.2 billion in March 2018, and subsidizing electricity fuel by about $180 million, which was crucial in helping Yemen escape from economic collapse.
The Yemeni economy witnessed improvement and growth in 2018-2019, driven by the Saudi deposit, and the stability of the riyal price during the same period, but it returned to contraction during 2020.
