Since 2015, conflict-related factors in Yemen and de-risking by financial institutions abroad have led to a mass migration of financial flows from the country’s formal to the informal economy. Informal market actors have benefited greatly from this increased liquidity, foremost among them Swaid & Sons for Exchange Co., which became one of Yem…

The value of the Yemeni rial (YR) has been collapsing dramatically since the end of August in areas nominally controlled by the internationally recognized Yemeni government. This has spurred a rapid deterioration in the living conditions of millions of people and widespread social unrest.  The International Monetary Fund (IMF) also recently allo…

The United Nations Panel of Experts on Yemen recently accused the internationally recognized Yemeni government, its central bank and commercial food importers in the country of colluding to embezzle nearly half a billion dollars. The accusations were included in the panel’s annual report to the UN Security Council, published on January 25, which …

Following an escalation in recent months, there was some progress by the end of November in mediating a solution to end the struggle between the two fragmented branches of the Central Bank of Yemen (CBY) over access to financial data from the country's commercial and Islamic banks and money exchange outlets (for details, see: Yemen Economic Bulle…

The rival branches of the fragmented Central Bank of Yemen (CBY) have recently escalated their battle for control over access to data held by the country’s commercial and Islamic banks and money exchange firms, threatening the viability of the financial sector overall and risking a broad spectrum of economic and humanitarian fallout. This strug…