Yemeni economy in free fall amid collapsing currency, COVID-19
The majority of Yemeni society bears the consequences and stands alone, unable to confront the ravages of war, division and the ongoing economic deterioration.
Over the past month, the Yemeni rial has declined against foreign currencies to the lowest rate since the war began in March 2015, registering 800 rials to the US dollar, amid international warnings of further declines.
This was clearly expressed by Undersecretary General for Humanitarian Affairs Mark Lowcock in his briefing to the United Nations Security Council on Yemen June 24, warning of Yemen "falling off the cliff."
“We have never before seen in Yemen a situation where such a severe acute domestic economic crisis overlaps with a sharp drop in remittances and major cuts to donor support for humanitarian aid — and this, of course, is all happening in the middle of a devastating pandemic,” Lowcock said, noting that the value of the rial has plummeted and food prices have risen between 10% and 20% in some areas just in the last two weeks.
On June 2, the UN and Saudi Arabia hosted a virtual donor conference for Yemen, during which donor countries pledged $1.35 billion to help humanitarian agencies continue to provide basic and emergency services, including funding for coronavirus containment programs.
