Yemeni Central Bank Sanaa – Ali Rabea The government of Yemen unveiled a prospective agreement with Saudi Arabia whereby the latter deposits $1 billion into the Yemeni Central Bank. During the unveiling, Yemen also called upon the international community to hold a special conference on the consequences of migration from the Horn of Africa.
This came at a press conference held Wednesday at the Yemeni capital Sanaa where the Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Mohammed al-Saadi said the agreement between Yemen and the Saudi Development Fund will be signed at the Riyadh Conference for Donors next Tuesday.
Al-Saadi said the purpose of the deposit is to support the national currency and enhance Yemeni government efforts to face the current economic challenges. He added that the Yemeni government is negotiating similar steps with a number of donors.
The minister clarified that Yemen completed all the final arrangements for the donor conference in Riyadh and the first day of the conference will feature a broad meeting under the auspices of Saudi government for official government representatives of the donating countries participating in the conference. The second day will be devoted to a meeting for civil society organisations and private sector corporations and will be sponsored by the General Secretariat of the GCC.
A conference by the Friends of Yemen group is also set to take place in New York at the end of September where other commitments by donors will be announced if not finalised during the Riyadh conference.
The minister explained $11 billion is needed to cover the finance gap and implement the two year economic stability programme while the Yemeni government can provide only $3billion of the total sum.
Al-Saadi met Wednesday with the IMF delegation overlooking the progress of the rural roads programme and preparations for the new road maintenance programme. The meeting, attended by the Minister of Public Works and Roads in the Yemeni government Omar al-Karshami, discussed technical details related to the $40 million grant allocated by the IMF to finance the new project.
In a meeting with the UN Refugee Agency representative, al-Saadi called for an international conference to support the Yemeni government in facing the humanitarian needs accompanying the influx of migrants from the African Horn and stressed that this represents an additional humanitarian commitment on the shoulders of Yemeni government. The minister claimed this requires the international community to provide all available kinds of support to help Yemen fulfil its humanitarian obligation toward the migrants.