Yemen central bank ‘empty of money’

The Yemeni Central Bank’s newly appointed governor said today that he had inherited a bank with no money, a dysfunctional monetary cycle and no working database, Reuters reported.

Monasser Saleh Al-Quaiti told the Saudi-owned Asharq al-Awsat newspaper that his appointment had come in time to prevent Yemen’s rial currency from collapsing after mishandling had led to a depletion of reserves. He pledged to keep the bank independent.

“We have to reverse the situation…I was handed over a bank empty of money, a monetary cycle that was incapable of circulating and a database that was not existent,” Al-Quaiti said.

“We will solve the salary payment problem, despite the Houthis keeping the database, through information stored in the branches of the central bank in the governorates.”

President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi appointed Al-Quaiti earlier this month and ordered the bank’s headquarters be moved from the capital Sana’a, controlled by Houthi rebels, to the southern port city of Aden, where his government is based.

Hadi is backed by a Saudi-led Arab coalition, which has been trying to roll back gains made by the Iran-backed Houthis since 2014 and restore Hadi to power. His government has accused the Houthis of squandering some $4 billion of central bank reserves on their war effort, though the Houthis say the funds were used for food and medicine.

Last week, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said managing director Christine Lagarde met Hadi and they discussed the situation “including preserving the operational capacity of the central bank system so as to improve the financial stability and economic and social outcomes for the Yemeni people.”

Al-Quaiti said in the interview: “We had a good meeting with the IMF’s Lagarde and she said the Fund would support the bank if the move paved the way for it to perform its duties, and the IMF and World Bank did not oppose our move.”