NYN | News
Over the past 24 hours, the currency exchange market in Aden witnessed a rapid and unexpected improvement in the value of the Yemeni rial, following a series of limited measures announced by the Central Bank there. According to economic analysts, the developments have revealed the extent of the chaos that has plagued the monetary market in recent months.
Following notable fluctuations in the exchange rates of the Saudi riyal and the US dollar among money exchange companies, the Central Bank intervened on Wednesday evening by imposing a mandatory price cap—setting the maximum buying price for the Saudi riyal at 635 Yemeni rials, and the selling price at 638, while allowing trades at lower rates.
The sudden drop in exchange rates coincided with the bank’s announcement of the activation of public debt instruments, tightened oversight on exchange firms, the reactivation of the import regulation committee, and—most importantly—the halt of any new currency issuance. These are steps that had been suspended for years, despite repeated calls from the banking sector and the international community.
Economists argue that this sharp improvement in the rial’s value was no miracle, but rather a market response to long-overdue oversight, in a landscape dominated by financial mismanagement and corruption. They affirm that the currency crisis has always been a crisis of governance—not capacity.
They further emphasized that activating public debt instruments is a necessary step to absorb excess liquidity, but its success depends on parallel measures, including controlling the black market and effectively coordinating fiscal and monetary policies.
In a related context, observers linked this sudden action to the rising wave of public anger in Hadramawt, suggesting that fears of protests spreading may have prompted the Central Bank to impose strict control and ease tensions by lowering exchange rates.
Despite the relative improvement, experts warned against seeing this as the end of the crisis, stressing that the continuation of reforms is the only path to achieving lasting monetary stability.
