Saudi Arabia has deposited a second USD 250 mn tranche of the USD 1.2 bn grant to Yemen’s Presidential Council, state news agency SPA reported yesterday. The assistance is directed towards “addressing the budget deficit, paying salaries and operating expenditures and food security.” Yemen’s central bank governor Ahmed bin Ahmed Ghaleb Al Maabqi told Reuters he expects the bank to receive the installment by yesterday or today. The grant is part of a one-year USD 1.2 bn grant announced in August for the struggling Yemeni economy.
A worsening situation: Al Maabqi said the crisis in the Red Sea has aggravated the war-torn country’s economic crisis. “The situation is already hard as a result of the war going on for more than eight years. With Houthi attacks on oil facilities [in Yemen] and exports halting, the Red Sea attacks have exacerbated the situation,” he said.