The Aden Chamber of Commerce and Industry warned on Monday of a severe shortage of goods and food supplies, as more companies face bankruptcy daily due to the collapse of the local currency's value. The chamber stated in a statement following its meeting that traders are unable to keep up with the rapid decline of the rial, alongside the weakened purchasing power of citizens resulting from wages not matching basic needs, which has led to significant market stagnation.
Yemeni President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi issued a decree on Monday to restructure the Central Bank’s board of directors, including the appointment of a new governor and deputy governor amidst an unprecedented collapse of the local currency. Yemen, ravaged by war, is experiencing a severe depreciation of the rial, which hit 1700 to the dollar, its lowest level ever, in the parallel market on Monday, according to dealers and exchange offices. The Central Bank maintains an official exchange rate of 530 rials to the dollar.
Abu Bakr Ba’aboud, head of the Aden Chamber of Commerce and Industry, told Reuters that "the continued decline in the currency's value has caused a severe shortage of food supplies." He added, "For example, a trader who used to import 100 containers is now struggling to import 10 containers, due to the currency's deterioration and the difficulty of obtaining foreign currency at reasonable prices, unlike before when the Central Bank of Yemen in Aden covered the traders' import operations and provided dollars at a price lower than the parallel market rates."
Ba’aboud called on all parties to the conflict in Yemen to "neutralize the private sector and the economy and not to involve economic aspects in political conflicts and use them as leverage to gain political or military positions." Yemen relies on imports for 90% of its food and essential needs.
Meanwhile, the Southern Transitional Council granted Yemeni Prime Minister Maeen Abdulmalik until the end of the week to identify “the party obstructing the government’s duties and pushing the situation toward collapse in Aden and southern cities.” The council threatened to take escalatory measures if the government failed to respond. Further details were not disclosed. The council, which has five ministers in the government, confirmed its support for "all forms of peaceful public expression rejecting the continuation of these conditions," while warning against any exploitation of these situations to incite riots, block roads, or harm public and private property.
