New governor appointed for Yemen’s Central Bank

Yemen’s internationally recognised President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi appointed former finance minister Mohammed Mansour Zammam as governor of the Central Bank, the state-run SABA News Agency reported yesterday.

The new announcement comes off the back of Saudi Arabia’s transfer of $2 billion to Yemen’s Central Bank last month in an effort to stabilise a failing the country’s currency.

Saudi Arabia is leading a coalition of Arab states against the Houthis upon request by Hadi since March 2015. More than 10,000 Yemenis have been killed since the beginning of the conflict in Yemen.

The Central Bank was relocated to interim capital Aden, southern Yemen, last September to prevent the Houthis from tapping into the capital. It was alleged that the Houthis were robbing and looting local banks to fund the conflict in Yemen. The Houthis categorically denied the claims. “No, this is not true,” Hussain Al-Bukhaithi, a Sana’a based journalist with links to the Houthis told MEMO.

In July last year, an armed uniformed group robbed a local bank in Aden, killing the manager. Southern Yemen has a strong presence of United Arab Emirates (UAE) backed forces.

The UAE is supporting the Southern Transitional Council (STC) led by General Aidarous Al-Zubaidi, which seeks to secede from northern Yemen.

Russia ordered the print of 400 billion Yemen riyals in September last year. The first batch was sent to the ports of Aden, to support Yemen’s falling currency amid an ongoing civil conflict which erupted in September 2014.

Russia previously requested to initiate political mediation over the Yemen civil war in June last year.

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