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Yemenis got up Sunday to see sudden, relatively great improvement in the local currency, Yemeni rial, against other currencies at local market.
The US dollar declined from 750 on Saturday to 600 rials and Saudi real from 195 to 155 rials in Aden where the Central Bank of Yemen is based. However, in Sana'a, the US dollar reached 620 and Saudi real 160 Yemeni rials.
Yemeni economic observers told Debriefer that the improvement of local money is likely because of the CBY's resuming mechanism of banking credits for importing food goods, anticipations that the country would receive hard moneys inflows in the form of humanitarian aids, and the Saudi monthly oil grant of US$ 60 million.
Moreover, the Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates recently announced that they provided Yemen with a US$-70 million worth grant to partly pay salaries of school teachers in different Yemeni areas. The UNICEF would undertake the payment to 120 thousand teachers directly through its own offices.
This improvement is believed to continue, according to economic observers.
The CBY stated on Saturday that it agreed last week on a mechanism of withdrawal from the Saudi deposit; a total amount of US$ 170 million would be withdrawn in three stages.
The funds were allocated for food imports' banking credits, said the Bank noting that the official exchange rate for basic materials is one dollar for 585 YRs.
According to the CBY, the funds were distributed among all banks that applied for banking credits to cover importation of wheat, rice, sugar, milk, cooking oil, and maize.
The Yemeni economy saw in the last few weeks rapid downfalls as a result of declines in the local currency, among other causes, worsening living situations of already suffering people.
Despite Yemeni government efforts to halt economic deterioration, and the Saudi US$200-million grant for the CBY last October in addition to a Saudi deposit of US$ 2 billion last January, all those actions failed to limit currency decline and hike in food prices.
Yemen has been racked by armed conflict which broke out after the Houthis had ousted the internationally recognized government in late 2014.
The conflict escalated after a Saudi-led military coalition intervened militarily in the country in March 2015.
Yemen is facing the world's worst humanitarian crisis. The conflict has left nearly 11,000 people dead in Yemen, already the Arab world's poorest country and more than 22 million people in Yemen are in need of aid - 8.4 million of whom are on the brink of starvation, according to the United Nations.
