Yemen’s Central Bank issues important statement

The Central Bank of Yemen issued an important statement, which reads as follows:

The Central Bank of Yemen has followed with interest the statements made by the media by persons who are not legally represented in the Yemeni people, on the fact that International Monetary Fund (IMF) had approved the replenishment of $300 million to the Central Bank branch account at Aden of the Republic of Yemen’s SDRs starting next week, thereby granting the authority to the Central Bank branch in Aden to dispose of this amount, under the control of the aggression states on Yemen, to be credited as a loan to Yemen upon the commencement of the disposal of those withdrawal rights by the Central Bank of Aden Branch, this shows the contradiction of the Fund’s policies and decisions and the duplication of its handling of the same issues in accordance with political agendas, thus, it is one of the instruments of economic war by the aggression States to implement their plans towards Yemen, by providing extrajudicial funds to finance military operations and the war on Yemen; pushing the national economy and social situation to the brink of collapse as part of the objectives of the military and economic war on Yemen, in addition to financing operations that contravene the rules and requirements of combating money-laundering and the financing of terrorism.

The Central Bank, the main centre of Sana’a, previously addressed the International Monetary Fund on 3 June 2021 and 8 June 2022, respectively, on 24 October 2022 A.D., the last of which was dated 24 4/1444 A.H. (18/11/2022 A.D.), in which the Fund was informed that the Central Bank of Yemen had opposed any decision taken by the Fund approving the empowerment of the Central Bank branch in Aden to prevent the use of the Special Drawing Rights of the Republic of Yemen, which imposes illegal financial obligations on the Yemeni people in violation of the constitution and provides financing for the war against Yemen.

Out of concern for the rights of the Yemeni people and the principles of economic neutralization, the Central Bank of Yemen also stressed in these communications its previous claims to the Fund that one of the claimants in those claims should be approved, namely:

1- Managing the rights of drawing units through a third party so as to ensure that the value of such units is used to finance commodity imports and that the corresponding Yemeni rials are allocated to pay the salaries of State employees, which will cover the payment of State salaries for six consecutive months.

2- Using the value of the drawing rights units to pay a part of the value of the domestic public debt owed to banks operating in Yemen, enabling them to pay a part of their depositors’ money, alleviating banks’ obligations and liquidity crisis, and alleviating financial distress for their depositors, and relieving pressure on local currency rates.

3- Stop any disposal of SDR of the Republic of Yemen, until the end of aggression on Yemen, and the use of the entire Yemeni people of the drawing rights units.

The Central Bank has also addressed the House of Representatives and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the actions and decisions of the International Monetary Fund, who, in turn, addressed relevant international organizations and the Security Council, warning against the actions of IMF towards the Yemeni people’s financial obligations contrary to the law and the Yemeni Constitution and to the aims, policies and standards of the International Monetary Fund; In particular, those related to governance and the rule of law, enhanced transparency and accountability, lack of duplication in dealing with the same issues, and the non-granting of withdrawal rights units to States experiencing political instability.

Accordingly, if IMF rejects any of the above-mentioned demands, the Central Bank of Yemen reiterates its total rejection of any decision taken by the Fund concerning the drawing rights of the Republic of Yemen; It does not bear any burden on the Fund’s decision, and the Republic of Yemen and the Yemeni people retain their legal right to accountability and prosecution any party or entity acting, facilitating or contributing directly or indirectly in the exploitation and destruction of the rights and capabilities of the Yemeni people and the imposition of illegal financial obligations for persons and groups found corrupt, used to finance the war on Yemen and to reach the lowest levels of people’s livelihoods under the management and supervision of the aggression coalition against Yemen.