Failure, corruption of the Yemeni government lead to the collapse of the currency: Economic experts

Economic experts considered the collapse of the national currency in Yemen as one of the main manifestations of the failure that accompanied the Yemeni government in managing the economic file and its utter failure against itself and the interests of power centers within the government side, in addition to its failure in its economic struggle with the Houthi militias.

Economists stressed that the economic file was not a priority on the government's agenda, or that it left the issue in this form of idleness and chaos to facilitate corruption in exchange for harming the interests of Yemenis.

Successive governments and the presidency stood by and watched the collapse in the value of the currency, which reached its lowest level ever so far, with the US dollar reaching one thousand. Economists said.

Economists said that the most important factors that contributed to the collapse of the currency represented in squandering state resources, not supplying to its allocated accounts in the Central Bank of Yemen in Aden, and the absence of any rationalization process for the state’s public expenditures with the continued payment of a large part of the government’s obligations in hard currency, especially the salaries of officials residing abroad.

The absence of any real will to manage the economic file efficiently in general and to overlook the failure of those in control of the economy so far, in addition to the raging conflict between power centers within the government side against the background of personal economic interests and benefits contributed to the deterioration of the value of the Yemeni riyal. Economists said.

They noted that this is also due to the absence of any oversight by the state's supervisory bodies and institutions such as Parliament, the Audit and Accountability and the Anti-Corruption Authorities, in addition to the continued instability of the government inside the country and the sense of citizens' problems.

They strongly criticized the central bank's inability and lack of efficient and effective monetary policy tools to preserve, as much as possible, the value of the national currency.

The Central Bank can maintain the value of the Yemeni currency and contribute mainly by linking all branches of the Central Bank to the main center in Aden, canceling the accounts of government institutions in commercial banks and linking them to their designated accounts in the Central Bank. Economists recommended.

Economists urged to stop printing or exporting any new quantities of the national currency, and to control exchange companies, prevent them from selling foreign currency except according to certain conditions and in limited quantities. In addition to preventing exchange companies from selling or buying hard currency in large quantities, whether for merchants or citizens, and linking merchants wishing to obtain the hard currency necessary to provide invoices for importing goods only through the Central Bank.

They stressed linking all money transfer companies to a unified network and supervising their operations, and working to withdraw the cash mass from the old (currency) edition of the Houthi areas through the sale of major commodities, especially household gas, in the old edition.

The economic experts pointed to the need to appoint a global accounting auditing company to review the operations of the Central Bank during the past and future period, and to refer those who are proven to be involved in any corruption operations to the Public Prosecution.

They also recommended the necessity of stopping any government payments in hard currency, especially those that violate the law or that can be paid in the local currency.