The economy and services in the liberated areas..a battle that Hadi lost, so will the Presidential Council win it
English - Sunday 11 September 2022 الساعة 05:13 pm
Aden, NewsYemen, special:
In his first speech after taking the constitutional oath, the Leader of the Leadership Council, Rashad Al-Alimi, stressed that the economic and livelihood file represents one of the most important priorities of the Council, which is entering its sixth month without clear indications on the ground that something has been achieved on this file.
The outcome of 5 months of the life of the Presidential Council indicates only its success in stopping the collapse in this file and achieving fragile stability without any improvement or noticeable difference from what was the situation before the formation of the Council.
Perhaps the clearest example of this is the fragile stability that the local currency has enjoyed against foreign currencies during the past months at a certain ceiling amid official warnings issued by the Central Bank in Aden of its collapse during the coming period in light of the ambiguity surrounding the subject of material support announced by Saudi Arabia and the UAE with the formation of The Presidential Council is estimated at $3 billion.
Where the Bank warned in a report that the deficit in the balance of payments in Yemen (import volume versus production) by the end of 2022 will exceed $3.5 billion, noting that this requires more external financial support to enhance currency reserves, achieve price stability and ensure food security.
The delay in the support announced by Saudi Arabia and the UAE is attributed by observers to linking its provision to the implementation of a number of conditions, including what is related to the way this support is managed by the Central Bank; Including what is related to controlling the file of revenues in the liberated areas and stopping financial corruption and waste in expenditures.
Most government schools in the capital, Aden, are still closed due to the teachers’ strike to demand a raise in their salaries, in the most prominent example of the impact of the collapse of the local currency. With him, the teacher's salary collapsed from about 400 dollars before the war to the equivalent of only 70 dollars.
As for the services side in the liberated areas, it also witnessed stability compared to the situation before the formation of the council, especially in the electricity file. With the fuel dilemma and its high cost, the generation depends on diesel and diesel plants, which cost up to $100 million per month, according to a statement by the Minister of Electricity.
This dilemma was demonstrated by the recent suspension of the government electricity service in the city of Mocha, just two weeks after its inauguration with generators provided by the UAE. However, it stopped because the fuel provided by the government was not enough.
Despite acknowledging the magnitude of the challenges faced by the Council in the file of the economy and services and the difficulty of solving them in a short time, what raises concerns is the stalemate that has recently dominated its activities and the absence of any indications of starting to resolve the situation in the liberated areas.
What doubles the council’s responsibility is that its formation coincided with the conclusion of a truce to stop the fighting under the auspices of the United Nations and is still continuing in its sixth month, which allows the council greater freedom to devote itself to the file of services and the economy and achieve achievements in it that are reflected in a real improvement in the situation in the liberated areas.
An improvement that observers gather that it will be a military victory for the council at the expense of the Houthi militia, which has always benefited from the poor conditions in the liberated areas to strengthen its grip in its areas of control.
The file of services and the economy is one of the most important factors that ended the rule of former President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi as a result of the disastrous performance of his administration of the country with failed and corrupt tools; Which means that the presidential success in this file is a real test for him, either by going in the opposite direction or by following the same path to the same end.
