Aden employees without salaries: "The government lowered prices and cut off monthly payments, so what will we buy with?"

Arabian Sea Newspaper - Special

Aden ((Arabian Sea)) Exclusive: Employee salaries in Aden and the southern governorates remain suspended for two months. Administrators in government institutions explained that they had visited the Central Bank more than once to disburse their dues, to no avail, noting that bank employees refuse to disburse without giving clear reasons, and there are no official circulars justifying this suspension. Financial sources in Aden explained that the Central Bank continues to disburse salaries regularly only to revenue-generating institutions, such as customs, taxes, and transportation authorities, while salaries for other facilities are suspended, without an announced policy or timetable for processing, which these sources described as "financial discrimination." Resentment has escalated within a number of government agencies that rely entirely on state allocations to pay salaries. The living situation of employees is deteriorating amid the absence of any official communication from the Ministry of Finance or the Central Bank, raising questions about public spending priorities and the ability to reconcile monetary policy control with providing the state's basic obligations. One elderly employee says: "May God remove this government and its officials. We were happy that they reduced prices, and the exchange rate improved, but they cut off the monthly salary, so what will we buy with? May God remove them, they don't disburse our monthly salary until the exchange rate goes back up, they don't let us enjoy anything in this country." Despite the Yemeni riyal recording remarkable gains in the exchange market, thousands of Yemeni families are still waiting for their delayed salaries for the second month in a row, amid the absence of any clarification from the Central Bank of Yemen, which continues to withhold financial reinforcements from a number of government institutions. Over the past few days, the monetary markets have witnessed a sudden improvement in the exchange rate of the riyal against foreign currencies, as the dollar fell from 2,800 to around 1,600 riyals, and the Saudi riyal from 780 to 400 riyals, equivalent to an increase of about 50% in the value of the local currency. This shift was driven by measures taken by the Central Bank, including closing violating exchange companies, setting price margins for trading, and returning to a policy of partial floating. Economic expert Ali Al-Saqqaf considered what happened to the currency a "relative improvement" that does not necessarily reflect a coherent economic reality, pointing out that the recent measures of the Central Bank were necessary, but they remain partial and temporary unless they are linked to deeper economic reforms, including resuming oil exports, reorganizing remittances, rationalizing external spending, and unifying salary payments in riyals. Al-Saqqaf stressed that currency stability is not an achievement in itself, unless it translates into real purchasing power and a direct improvement in the standard of living of citizens, warning that ignoring basic financial obligations, especially salaries, may undermine recent gains. The divergence of financial indicators between the improvement in the exchange rate and the continued delay in salaries reflects an imbalance between monetary and fiscal policy. While the competent authorities succeed in controlling the market temporarily, the absence of a comprehensive vision for public spending limits the ability of any monetary reform to make a real difference in the lives of Yemenis.