Special source: The Ministry of Finance requires some beneficiaries of the “dollar subsidy” to open foreign bank accounts

A private source revealed that the Yemeni Ministry of Finance has stipulated that beneficiaries of the (illegal) “dollar subsidy” statement must open foreign bank accounts to cash it, at a time when the Yemeni currency is witnessing a continuous collapse.

The source told "Yemeni Youth Net Net" - on condition of anonymity - that the Ministry of Finance, represented by its Undersecretary Ayman Bajneid, refused to disburse the financial allocations to some beneficiaries of the subsidy for the months of July and August 2024 AD in cash, as is its custom.

He added that the ministry required them to open foreign bank accounts in Saudi, Egyptian, Emirati, Jordanian, Turkish and some European banks, where most of the officials who receive monthly salaries in hard currency reside.

The source explained that the Ministry of Finance officials who are based at the Yemeni embassy in Riyadh refused to deposit the amounts of some of the beneficiaries of the food subsidy who are in the liberated governorates into their accounts in Yemeni banks, as if the ministry was seeking through this measure to push these officials to leave the country, according to his expression.

This comes at a time when the Yemeni riyal is witnessing a record decline, as the price of one dollar recently reached nearly 2,170 Yemeni riyals, as a result of the lack of foreign currency in the exchange markets and the government’s inability to find solutions to this.

In July 2024, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Bank of Yemen, Dr. Muhammad Hussein Haboub, spoke about large sums of money spent by the government on “state leaders” who do not hold any government positions abroad, while the majority of Yemenis inside the country suffer from an unprecedented deterioration in services and a horrific rise in poverty and hunger indicators.

Halboub said in an interview with Aden Elghad Radio that the Yemeni government spends $12 million monthly as a living allowance for officials abroad, most of whom are unemployed, do not hold any qualifications, and do not practice any government activity, but they receive monthly amounts between eight thousand and three thousand dollars, and that the total amount of this living allowance amounts to 25% of the state budget.

Yemeni economists repeatedly demand that the Yemeni government stop paying illegal subsidies and stop paying salaries in hard currency to officials residing outside the country, as this has an impact on the value of the national currency.