Emergency meeting held in Yemen to address sharp depreciation of currency

ADEN, Yemen, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) — Yemeni Prime Minister Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak held an emergency meeting on Tuesday in the southern port city of Aden to stabilize the national currency after a sharp depreciation of the Yemeni riyal in government-controlled provinces.
The meeting, attended by Central Bank Governor Ahmed Ghaleb and Finance Minister Salem bin Buraik, focused on implementing fiscal and monetary reforms to stabilize the national currency and increase public revenues, according to the state-run Saba news agency.
Banking sources in Yemen’s government-controlled provinces, including Aden, Taiz, and Marib, told Xinhua that the exchange rate has exceeded 2,000 Yemeni riyals per U.S. dollar, the lowest level since the civil war began in late 2014, when one U.S. dollar was equivalent to 215 riyals.
This decline has resulted in soaring prices for staple goods like rice, wheat, and fuel, further exacerbating the hardships faced by Yemeni citizens.
Following the meeting, the central bank governor announced a public auction to sell 50 million U.S. dollars as part of immediate interventions. He attributed the pressure on the riyal to the halt of key national resources, reduced aid, and declining state revenues.
Bin Mubarak emphasized the government’s concern over the “catastrophic consequences” of the currency’s depreciation on citizens’ daily lives. He pledged full support for the central bank’s measures and stressed the importance of their swift implementation to stabilize the exchange rate. ■