Yemen’s national economy has contracted by 50% since last year

Yemen has lost one and a half billion dollars since last August because of the Houthi attacks on economic facilities and oil ports in the country, said Marwan Ali Noman, the Acting Permanent Representative of Yemen to the United Nations. In a high-level Security Council session on famine and food insecurity resulting from conflict on Thursday, Noman said Yemen’s national economy has contracted by 50% since August of last year. 

Muhammad Jamal Al-Shuaibi, a professor of political economy at the University of Aden in southern Yemen, said that Saudi Arabia’s announcement to support the Yemeni government with $1.2 billion would reflect positively on exchange rates and improve the value of the Yemeni riyal. Over the past weeks, the value of the Yemeni currency has largely declined as the exchange rate touched 1,500 riyals against one dollar.

YouTube has shut down new channels affiliated with the Houthi group and some of its leaders. Two weeks earlier, it closed around 21 Houthi-related channels. According to YouTube guidelines, a channel can be terminated if repeated violations of Community Guidelines or Terms of Service are committed.

Violent battles between the National Army forces and the Houthi group broke out Thursday in Taiz province. Local media reports indicated that fierce fighting between the two sides intensified on the Al-Zanouj front to the north of Taiz City. The Houthi group controls many districts in Taiz, and its fighters keep attempting to seize more territories.