Wadhah Al-Awlaqi has served as the Chief Economist at the Sana’a Center for Strategic Studies since 2019. He has over a decade of experience in economic research, analysis, and policy development focused on Yemen. He held several key positions at the Central Bank of Yemen, overseeing strategic planning, financial reporting, budget management, and accounting operations. He holds an MBA in Finance from the prestigious KAIST Business School in South Korea.
Wadhah's latest contributions
The Yemen Review Quarterly: April-June 2024
Houthi intelligence arrested dozens of local and international aid workers and UN and non-government organization (NGO) staff in early June, alleging they were part of a US-Israeli conspiracy to undermine Yemeni society. The detainees were paraded on television and forced to give scripted confessions. The Houthis seem to have targeted monitoring … Read more
The Yemen Review Quarterly: April-June 2024
The Economy
Yemen's already fractured financial system faces a dangerous escalation as its rival central banks engage in a high-stakes power struggle, threatening a full-blown currency war. On March 31, the Houthi-controlled Central Bank in Sana'a (CBY-Sana'a) made a controversial decision to introduce a new coin to replace deteriorating 100 rial banknotes. … Read more
The Yemen Review Quarterly: January-March 2024
The Economy
The re-designation of the Houthis as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist group (SDGT) by the Biden administration, which took effect on February 16, has sparked a complex debate. The move follows a series of Houthi missile attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab Strait. The designation allows the US Treasury to impose … Read more
The Yemen Review Quarterly: January-March 2024
Yemen’s political and economic situation worsened in the first months of the year as the impacts of the Red Sea crisis, which began in November, began to manifest themselves. Peace talks between Saudi Arabia and the Houthi group (Ansar Allah) were effectively placed on hold, and the United States broadened its response to the Houthi attacks, … Read more
The Yemen Annual Review 2023
Peace talks between Saudi Arabia and the Houthi group () dominated Yemeni politics over the last year. The negotiations began as backchannel discussions in October 2022 after the Houthis resisted UN pressure to renew a truce first agreed in April 2022 by making a series of eleventh-hour demands. The talks continued despite Houthi attacks on oil … Read more