Saudi Arabia To Donate $200m To Yemen
The Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported on Tuesday that the country has pledged to donate 200 million dollars to Yemen in an effort to shore up the country’s battered currency.
The Yemeni riyal had lost nearly half its value against the U.S. dollar in 2017 and prices of basic commodities had soared.
Yemen, already one of the Arab world’s poorest countries has been locked in a devastating civil war between the internationally recognised government and the Iran-allied Houthi rebels since 2014.
The conflict intensified in March 2015 when the Houthis, who control the North of the country including the capital Sana’a, advanced on Aden, the government’s temporary seat of power.
The advance prompted Saudi Arabia and other Sunni allies to start an air campaign in Yemen against the Shiite group.
“The grant, in addition to three billion dollars that were previously deposited in Yemen’s Central Bank, will help ease the economic burden on the Yemeni people,” SPA reported citing the Saudi Ambassador to Yemen, Mohamed Al-Jaber.
