[16/08/2017 07:47]

ADEN-SABA
Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Yemen (CBY) Abbas Al-Basha has said that the CBY's new decision for a floating exchange rate is a correction of the current currency exchange status not a transition to new exchange rate policy.
In a press statement, Al-Basha said: "The decision, would make the conditions conducive for launching the reconstruction program with support of donors led by Saudi Arabia."

He added: "The exchange rate policy in the Republic of Yemen is basically based on the floatation since 1996, and not on the fixation by tying (the Yemeni Rial) to another currency or to a free currencies basket. (This is) based on the economic and financial reform program, and the plurality of exchange rates in the cash market."

He said this correction will contribute to attracting grants and other revenues in foreign currency, mainly the grant programs to be launched by the World Bank and other donors soon; e.g.

the Social Welfare Fund's cash transfer program, the commodity imports support portfolio and relief fund as well as some public health and education programs."

He noted that it is well known in the world of exchange rate management that flotation is a regime in which a currency's value is allowed to fluctuate in response to foreign-exchange market mechanisms of supply and demand."

He pointed out that the CBY's previous bulletins on the official exchange rate reflected the market price. There was no significant difference between the official price and the market price, because the CBY possessed enough foreign cash reserves.

But when the Central Bank realized in March 2016 that the reserves were about to run out, It decided to halt its fixation intervention and limited itself to subsidizing only the price of wheat and rice."

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