Yemen Monitor/Newsroom:
The Central Bank of Yemen in Aden announced on Tuesday evening the resumption of its weekly foreign currency auctions, coinciding with the ongoing collapse of the national currency.
In a statement, the Aden Central Bank said it had resumed its weekly foreign currency auctions by conducting a series of weekly auctions with amounts exceeding $50 million per auction.
The bank indicated that it will announce the date of the first auction of this year tomorrow, Wednesday, to be followed by other auctions to meet the market’s need for foreign currencies.
The Yemeni riyal has declined to its lowest level ever, reaching 2160 riyals to the dollar, despite the government receiving Saudi support of half a billion dollars at the end of December.
Bankers and traders said the riyal has fallen to a record low of 2160 riyals to the dollar and 565 riyals against the Saudi riyal, amid uncertainty and continued currency speculation.
The Yemeni currency has been continuously declining in value since July of last year, amid a vacuum in the leadership of the central bank with the absence of the bank’s governor on a medical trip and the resignation of the bank’s deputy governor for the banking sector, following Saudi pressure that forced the bank’s leadership to back down from decisions to impose sanctions on commercial banks in Houthi-controlled areas.
