Yemen: Yemen abounds in oil, gas and other valuable minerals, which, if optimally exploited, will enable it to build a strong economy that will benefit the country as a whole and contribute to improving the living conditions of the citizens.

Politics is an intensive economy, and the strength of the economy of any country determines its political options. Despite the fact that the southern and eastern governorates are oil-rich governorates, there is no political stability, even at the prevailing minimum. 

There are armed militias fighting each other and a sham government that does not possess the most basic elements of decision-making and management of the wealth it hoards in the governorates of Marib, Shabwa, Hadramout and Aden.

Citizens in these governorates suffer very badly with regard to the high prices of foodstuffs, however, the government there is taking unconsidered decisions. The last of these decisions is to raise the price of the dollar used to calculate customs duties on goods by an additional 50%.

This ill-conceived measure will add more severe burdens to the life of the citizens because accordingly the raising of the price of the customs dollar will lead to an increase in the prices of foodstuffs, commodities and products that it enters through the port of Aden and the rest of the southern and eastern ports. The country imports most of its needs due to US-Saudi aggression and siege for over eight years which caused the collapse of the economy. This economic war also made 80% of the population dependent on aid.

A bad and stupid decision sparked massive protests after the rise in the prices of fuel, materials and raw commodities. It is a catastrophic decision whose negative effects will affect the lives of millions of citizens and it came as a collective punishment.

The Economic Council of the Saudi-backed government announced that it approved a package of new economic measures that exacerbate the suffering of the people of Yemen in addition to the blockade and aggression. These economic measures directly affect the service and living conditions of the Yemenis, especially in the southern regions.

The first step of these measures is to raise the price of the customs dollar for imported goods in foreign currency, for the second time, by an increase of 50%. This time it raised it from 500 to 750 riyals for the US dollar or its equivalent in foreign currencies.

The second step was to raise the price of fuel in Marib governorate, as it raised the price of a liter of petroleum from 175 riyals to 487.5 riyals per liter, an increase of 178.5%.

The US-Saudi aggression also decided to raise the price of a domestic gas cylinder from 2,100 riyals to 3,000 riyals, a significant increase of 43% per cylinder.

In the third step, the Saudi-backed government intends to raise the tariff for electricity and water consumption, and gradually raise the tariff on subscribers' bills.

These measures came with the collapse of the new local currency against the dollar in the occupied governorates by 1,300 riyals per dollar, after only about a month and a half of seizing the special drawing rights of Yemen.

Citizens in Aden and the rest of the Yemeni areas under Saudi-Emirati occupation complain of a complete collapse of infrastructure services like electricity and water. A frightening deterioration of the economic situation and the exacerbation of famine in southern governorates is due to the rise in commodity prices resulting from the collapse of the Yemeni riyal price in those areas.

Saudi Arabia and the UAE, backed by the United States and regional allies, launched the war on Yemen in March 2015, with the goal of bringing the government of former Yemeni president Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi back to power.

The war has left hundreds of thousands of Yemenis dead and displaced millions more. It has also destroyed Yemen’s infrastructure and spread famine and infectious diseases there.

As part of its economic war, the US-Saudi aggression worked to drain about 97% of the Yemeni state's resources, either by controlling them militarily such as oil and gas sources, freezing Yemeni foreign assets and transferring them to mercenaries and financing coalition operations, or imposing siege on the vital port of Hodeidah and the most important port after Aden, which is still in the grip of Sana'a and out of control of the aggression.