Analysis Main Publications News The Yemen Review Publications Index

Latest contributions

Two Birds With One Stone: Using Aid Transfers to Support Stable Commodity Prices in Yemen

August 4, 2023
During the conflict in Yemen, the government-run Central Bank of Yemen in Aden (CBY-Aden), and other government-aligned economic stakeholders have argued for a policy that would rationalize humanitarian and broader aid transfers to support the provision of foreign exchange (FX) to critical commodity importers. This could benefit the economy at … Read more

Bridging the Divide: Mitigating the Impacts of the CBY Schism on Yemen’s Banking Sector

March 2, 2023
The September 2016 rupture of the Central Bank of Yemen (CBY) into rival branches associated with the main warring parties has severely undermined the country’s banking sector. The most fundamental issues affecting Yemeni banks are the differing currency systems that have emerged between areas controlled by the internationally recognized … Read more

Houthis Continue to Bilk Consumers With Exorbitant Fuel Prices

August 12, 2022
On July 3, the Sana’a-based Yemen Petroleum Company (YPC) increased the official price of petrol by 9 percent, from YR640 t0 YR700 per liter, in areas under the control of Houthi authorities. Since last June, Houthi-controlled cities have suffered from continuing shortages of diesel, leading to wide divergences in prices at official, commercial … Read more

Addressing the Crushing Weight of Yemen’s Public Debt

July 20, 2022
For decades prior to the ongoing conflict, Yemen had been vulnerable to recurring budget deficits due to a lack of meaningful fiscal reform, high recurrent expenditures – mainly public sector salaries and fuel subsidies – and an overdependence on oil revenues. While foreign debt obligations remained low, the debt market was poorly diversified, … Read more

Rial Depreciates Amid Delays in Pledged Saudi, Emirati Support

New Yemeni rial banknotes witnessed cyclic volatility over the course of June, depreciating by 10 percent relative to the United States dollar. Printed since 2017 and circulating in government-controlled areas, new rials lost almost 13 percent of their value in the first half of the month alone, falling from YR1,020 per US$1 to a low of YR1,150 on … Read more