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Yemen central bank to approve fund transfer abroad to facilitate food imports

Xinhua, July 22, 2016 Adjust font size:

Yemen's central bank governor said outbound foreign fund transfer is to be ratified to facilitate food imports, official Saba news agency reported on Thursday.

"The policy will take place in the comings days, so as to feed the accounts of Yemeni banks abroad to facilitate imports," Saba quoted the central bank's governor Mohammed bin Hammam as saying.

Bin Hammam made the remarks during his meeting with local bank exchangers, traders and members of the commercial chamber in Sanaa late Wednesday evening.

International humanitarian aid agencies have warned that Yemen is close to deadly famine because of the all-sided economic blockade imposed by a Saudi-led coalition since 2015.

Local importers have been unable to buy new food stocks from abroad as over 200 million U.S. dollars is stuck in local banks caused by the civil war and the blockade, according to traders and humanitarian aid agencies.

They said Western banks had cut credit lines for traders importing food to the war-stricken country after the war prevented Yemeni banks from transferring foreign funds abroad.

The financing troubles have also prevented western banks to provide letters of credit to sellers to guarantee payment on time.

The Saudi-led coalition, mostly from Arab countries, started intervention in Yemen's conflict in March 2015 to restore power to internationally recognized President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi after Houthis backed by allied forces stormed Sanaa and forced Hadi with his government into exile in 2014.

The warring parties have been holding peace talks in Kuwait since April under auspices of the United Nations to seek political compromise to end the fighting.

Both sides have agreed since the beginning of the conflict that the central bank continue its duties under the protection of the Houthi forces that control the capital Sanaa.

The civil war has killed more than 6,400 people, half of them civilians, injured more 35,000 others and displaced over two millions, according to humanitarian aid agencies. Endit