The Yemeni Presidency warns of Houthi destructive practices in the national economy

Aden (Al-Ittihad)

The Yemeni Presidency Council warned against the unilateral measures and destructive practices adopted by the Houthi group during the past years to divide the banking system, harm the national economy, and exacerbate the humanitarian catastrophe, stressing its support for the Central Bank’s decisions to oblige banks to transfer their main operations departments to the temporary capital, Aden.
This came during Rashad Mohammed Al-Alimi, Chairman of the Presidential Leadership Council, yesterday, receiving the Ambassador of the French Republic, Catherine Cormeaux, who handed him an invitation from President Emmanuel Macron to attend the opening activities of the Olympic Games, which Paris will host at the end of next month.
During the meeting, Al-Alimi reassured the banking sector and the international community of the importance of the recent decisions of the Central Bank, which require only banks in areas controlled by the Houthi group to transfer the banks’ main operations departments to the temporary capital, Aden, including information systems, data centers, international operations management, and compliance management. In addition to obligating it to hold its general assemblies outside the Houthi-controlled areas, while continuing to perform its banking operations as its branches in all governorates, in accordance with the regulations and laws in force.
The President explained that the decisions of the Central Bank are purely technical and financial measures that have no political background, but rather came in accordance with the bank’s powers, independence, and legal responsibilities to protect the banking sector from collapse, contrary to what the Houthi group is promoting.
The meeting also touched on bilateral relations between the two friendly countries, local developments, and regional developments, including the ongoing repercussions of the Houthi group’s attacks on oil installations and shipping ships, and the opportunities for bringing peace and stability to Yemen.
The meeting touched on the ongoing preparations for the Paris Club to be held at the end of this month, and the role relied on by partners and friends in addressing Yemen’s debts, supporting its efforts to improve economic and service performance, and alleviating the burden of the humanitarian crisis created by the Houthi group.
The Chairman of the Presidential Leadership Council also heard from the French Ambassador the program of her recent and upcoming contacts with local forces and regional and international actors, Paris’s assessments of developments at the national and regional levels, and ways to share efforts to contain their repercussions.
In the meeting, the Chairman of the Presidential Leadership Council renewed his praise for the distinguished bilateral relations between the two friendly countries, and the French Republic’s understanding position on the merits of the monetary and banking reforms led by the Central Bank of Yemen with the support of the Leadership Council and the government.
Earlier, the Leadership Council noted the report of the Central Bank regarding the arbitrary and destructive practices and measures practiced by the Houthi group against the banking and financial sector, taking advantage of the presence of most of the main banking centers in the city of Sanaa, which is subject to brute force.
According to the report, the violations included more than 20 arbitrary measures, including complicating the work environment of banks and financial institutions, restricting their banking activities, preventing the circulation of new issues of legal denominations of the national currency, and seizing a large portion of the banks’ cash amounts, supplying them to the group’s accounts and using them as a source of support. Its war effort was carried out without regard to its impact on the activity of banks and their ability to fulfill their obligations, in addition to placing them under international sanctions.
The Council stressed that obliging banks and banks to move their banking operations centers to the temporary capital, Aden, was a choice of necessity, in light of these threats and serious violations of banking rules and their profound economic and humanitarian repercussions.