43 per cent of Yemeni families have been forced to reduce the number of their daily meals due to the country’s economic fluctuations, the United Nations (UN) World Food Programme (WFP) in Yemen announced yesterday.
“Economic volatility & conflict means that many in Yemen regularly reduce the frequency or size of their meals or parents eat less so they can feed their children,” the WFP posted on Twitter.
Experts have said in recent months that Yemeni citizens’ purchasing power had declined due to a collapse of the national currency, with more than 900 riyals against the US dollar, reaching its peak last November.
Impoverished Yemen has been mired in a conflict since the Houthis ousted the government from power in the capital city of Sanaa in late 2014. The conflict escalated in March 2015 when a Saudi-led military coalition intervened, backing the Yemeni government.
The UN has said that the war has led to the worst humanitarian crisis globally, leaving 80 per cent of the population dependent on humanitarian aid to survive, and more than 100,000 dead.
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