Yemeni government warned of squandering the new Saudi support

Economic sources have warned the government of Maeen Abdulmalik against any misuse of public finances, taking advantage of the absence of oversight institutions such as parliament and state institutions responsible for accountability and corruption prevention.

The environment in which the Yemeni government operates is fertile ground for corruption and embezzlement, as the government continues to operate without a general state budget that links resources and plans for expenses, which encourages embezzlement at various levels of government work. The sources told Khabar Agency.

The corruption has been the first enemy of Yemen and its people, as it is a black hole that has swallowed billions of dollars during the years of war, whether those announced in donor conferences or those announced by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as deposits, grants, or direct support to the government, without any impact on the living standards of citizens. The sources said.

The sources renewed their warnings about the danger of repeating the same mistakes and tampering with the new Saudi support, which was announced last week, amounting to $1.2 billion, to compensate for the shortage in the Yemeni government resources due to the halt in oil exports since October 2022.

The sources pointed out that the government has previously directly tampered with or been involved in operations that wasted billions of dollars, such as the second Saudi deposit, which was announced after the transfer of the Central Bank to Aden, amounting to $2 billion, and many suspicions of corruption were raised and documented in reports by the expert team affiliated with the UN Security Council.

The sources warned that any manipulation in the process of disbursing the new support by granting preferential treatment and advantages to close traders to obtain foreign currency at preferential rates while keeping commodity prices unchanged is considered clear corruption.

The sources pointed out that any haste in reducing the value of the dollar against the Yemeni rial, with claims of an improved exchange rate after the new support, is a trick in which the government colludes with traders and money changers to fully absorb the support amount and disburse it at a lower rate before the prices return to their previous levels or even higher.

Observers advise the Yemeni Leadership Council to expedite economic reforms, starting with changing the government and implementing a new financial and monetary strategy that relies on mobilizing non-oil resources and achieving self-sufficiency, enabling the government to fulfill its obligations, especially in the first and second sections of the general state budget.