South24 (Hadramout)

Hadramout Governorate witnessed angry protests on Wednesday and Thursday, as demonstrators burnt damaged car tires on the road and blocked traffic to demand better services in the governorate.

This came amid the collapse of the local currency to record levels, with the exchange rate with US dollar exceeding 2,000 riyals. 

In an attempt to absorb the anger of citizens, the local authority announced late on Friday that 350 thousand liters of diesel fuel would be pumped daily into the local market at a price of 800 riyals.

Hadramout-based activist Abdul Jabbar Bajbir told the dpa German Press Agency that all the streets of the city of Ash Shihr witnessed angry protests in which hundreds of residents participated to protest against the deterioration of services, including electricity.

The Internationally Recognized Yemeni Government is still unable to tackle the collapse in services, despite holding intensive meetings recently in the capital Aden.

Meanwhile, the Governor of the Central Bank of Yemen Ahmed Al-Mabaqi revealed that "Yemen lost more than $6 billion of its own resources as a result of the cessation of oil and gas exports, due to the Houthi militia attacks on the country's ports and oil tankers, followed by targeting of international navigation in the Red Sea."

This came in statements published by the Central Bank's website on Thursday evening, during an ongoing tour by the Governor of the Bank, Ahmed Al-Mabaqi, to the United States.

Al-Mabaqi added that these circumstances "led to increased suffering of the people and a rapid deterioration in the conditions and food insecurity, the inability to provide basic services, and an increase in poverty rates to exceed 80 percent."

The Governor called on donors "to provide urgent support to Yemen, to benefit from the financing programs provided by the International Monetary Fund to countries experiencing similar crises and the most fragile countries."

Over the past years, the Yemeni government has received Saudi financial deposits worth billions of dollars, but the conditions for benefiting from these deposits have greatly restricted the Central Bank in Aden.

These conditions relate to economic reforms and combating corruption. It is believed that the Yemeni government suffers from high levels of corruption, which require radical solutions.