Yemen Monitor/Newsroom:
Mustafa Nasr, head of the Center for Economic Studies and Media, has commented on the recent US sanctions imposed on the Yemen and Kuwait Bank.
In a post, Nasr expressed his regret over the US’s increasing tendency to impose sanctions on Yemeni companies and financial institutions. He warned that such measures would not only affect the Houthis but would also have a detrimental impact on the entire Yemeni population.
Nasr urged the Houthis to completely withdraw from interfering in the banking sector to prevent further damage to Yemeni financial institutions and to avoid gambling with the institutions that form the heart of the country’s economic activity.
He added that the US should realize that the impact of sanctions on the group and its funding sources is limited, as the Houthis have their own financial networks and a parallel economy that they have built over a decade. They are capable of circumventing US sanctions on Yemeni financial institutions.
The accelerating pace of US sanctions on Yemeni exchange companies and banks necessitates increased efforts by the Yemeni banking sector to comply with international standards for combating money laundering and terrorist financing. It also calls for closer cooperation with the internationally recognized Central Bank of Yemen in Aden to overcome these challenges.”
