Amidst government silence, the Yemeni riyal records a historic collapse against foreign currencies

The local currency recorded a new decline against its foreign counterparts, reaching its lowest levels during financial transactions today, Saturday, in an indicator that foretells further economic deterioration in the country.

Banking sources told Yemen Youth Channel that the price of one dollar reached 1945 Yemeni riyals, while the price of the Saudi riyal reached 509 Yemeni riyals, in an unprecedented deterioration in the value of the local currency against foreign currencies.

Economists called on the government to quickly adjust and correct the monetary and banking situation, by fixing the dollar at a specific price, and not determining it based on supply and demand, which is supposed to be applied in a state of peace and not in light of the state of war that the country has been experiencing for ten years.

In this regard, economic journalist Wafiq Saleh confirmed that the government has no obstacles to stabilizing the dollar price, and it has no obstacle other than the lack of vision and will, especially in light of the lack of foreign exchange sources after the cessation of oil and gas exports.

Wafiq Saleh pointed out in statements to the "Yemeni Youth" channel that this deterioration in the currency price is something natural in light of the state of stagnation and contraction that the country has been experiencing in recent years in various economic sectors, with the cessation of foreign currency sources for the government, the decline in revenues, the rise in the import bill, and the rise in the trade balance.

He stressed that these factors, in their entirety, contributed to the Yemeni riyal losing its value, especially after the Central Bank backed down from its decisions regarding the transfer of the main banks’ headquarters to the temporary capital, Aden, following international pressure, not to mention the lack of a strict monetary policy regarding fixing the dollar price.

Regarding solutions and treatments, journalist Wafiq Saleh stressed that the most important factor that must be taken into account to address the root of the problem is working to resume the export of oil and gas, because this is the most important factor that contributed to the government’s budget deficit, noting that 70 percent of the state’s budget depended on oil and gas until before 2014.

He added that urgent solutions and measures require following several long-term and long-term paths. The long-term paths include resuming oil exports and reactivating foreign exchange sources from grants and foreign organizations, while the short-term solutions include fixing the dollar price at a specific amount and not leaving the price to the policy of supply and demand. According to his description