Special Envoy of the UN Secretary-General for Yemen Hans Grundberg warned ambassadors in the Security Council that recent months have seen a “gradual increase” in fighting in several locations, as well as consistent threats by all sides to return to war.
Director Edem Wosornu briefing the Security Council.
Catastrophic ramifications
Elaborating on the banking crisis, Edem Wosornu, the Director of Operations at the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), warned of the catastrophic ramifications, including serious repercussions for humanitarian relief operations.
A potentially imminent decision to exclude banks based in Sana’a from using the SWIFT banking system would prevent the banks there from facilitating international financial transactions.
Together with other issues plaguing the sector, this threatens to further fragment and weaken Yemen’s already struggling economy, she said, likely worsening poverty and hunger, and increasing reliance on humanitarian assistance.
“The increasingly volatile banking environment has worsened an existing liquidity crisis, making it very difficult for humanitarian organizations to pay staff salaries or to procure and pay for the many services they rely on for their operations,” she said, calling for urgent solutions from the international community to alleviate the crisis.