Aden (Al-Ittihad)
The Central Bank of Yemen, affiliated with the legitimate Yemeni government, revealed in a statement the Houthi group’s destructive practices in the banking sector, saying: The “group” sought to destroy the banking and financial sector and cause severe harm to it, taking advantage of the presence of most of the main centers of banks in the capital, Sana’a, and seizing the capabilities of banks and institutions. Finance and harnessing it to serve their absurd activities and wars, which forced them to take a package of protective policies and measures for the banking system, and to maintain monetary stability, the last of which was obliging banks to move their operations centers to the city of Aden.
The Central Bank said: Since moving the headquarters of the Central Bank from Sanaa to Aden in mid-2016, the Houthi group has sought to destroy the banking and financial sector and cause severe damage to it.
In this context, the Central Bank of Yemen spoke about several forms of Houthi practices and their methods aimed at seizing the capabilities of banks and financial institutions, harnessing them to serve their activities and wars, and harming the economic and financial situation of Yemen in general.
According to the Central Bank, the Houthi arbitrary practices included complicating the work environment of banks and financial institutions and restricting banking activities, by seeking to divide the economy and preventing the circulation of new editions of the national currency, and obstructing the movement of cash and financial transactions between different regions within Yemen.
The Central Bank explained that “the Houthi group, from December 2019 onwards, banned the circulation of new editions of the national currency, and carried out repeated raids to plunder and confiscate them from the headquarters of banks, financial institutions and commercial companies in the city of Sana’a and the areas under its control.
Houthi checkpoints also plunder and confiscate the money of travelers between governorates, under the pretext of destroying the new edition of the currency and criminalizing its possession. However, they then work to spend that money in foreign currencies and speculate on exchange rates in the areas of the legitimate government.
The Central Bank considered that these measures fall within the destructive practices of the national economy, the opportunities for monetary and financial stability, and weakening confidence in the national currency, thus increasing the costs of goods and services, and causing individuals and the commercial sector to suffer huge losses from the value of their incomes and savings, in addition to harming productive, commercial and investment activities in the country.
The Central Bank report stated that during the period from 2016 to 2018, the Houthi group seized a large portion of the banks’ cash amounts, taking advantage of the presence of most of the banks’ main centers in Sana’a, and forcing them to withdraw the cash liquidity available in the vaults of their branches and transfer it to their main centers. Then supply it to the accounts of the Houthis and use it as one of the sources of support for the “war effort” without caring about the impact on the banks’ activity and their ability to fulfill their obligations, and the loss of customers’ confidence in the banking sector.
The Central Bank stated that the Houthis, through what was previously called the “Payments Committee,” and later through the Central Bank branch in Sana’a, seized the foreign exchange resources of financial institutions in the areas under their control, and imposed their sale under their supervision at a low exchange rate for companies and the commercial sector, which they imposed on them. Delivering a lot of money and levies under different names to eventually add to the value and prices of goods and merchandise.
In this context, he pointed out that the Houthis are forcing banks and banks to provide amounts of foreign exchange at a low exchange rate to the parties and entities affiliated with the Houthi leadership, which represents the destruction of the market mechanism and rules based on supply and demand, and the use of those means for illicit gain and enrichment and is one of the sources of financing the “group’s” activities. Destructive and absurd.
#Yemen #Houthi #seeks #destroy #banking #financial #sector