The governor of the Central Bank of Yemen Dr. Mohamed Zemam announced that the withdrawal mechanism from the Saudi grant is now ready thanks to cooperation efforts by the Kingdom’s Ministry of Finance.
Last week, Zemam announced that the bank approved three additional withdrawals from the Saudi deposit, totaling $170 million.
He said that the withdrawn installments will be distributed to all developed banks to cover the imports of wheat, rice, sugar, milk, cooking oil and maize.
The governor pointed out that $98.16 million were allocated for wheat, $33.3 million for rice, $20.37 million for sugar (including raw materials for the sugar industry), $1.7 million for milk and $12.7 million for cooking oil.
“The Central Bank is now processing two payments per week to get approval that only takes five days of work,” Zemam said.
The bank held a meeting on Saturday with managers of banks in the temporary capital Aden devoted to discussing the banking sector.
During the meeting, Zemam stressed that commercial banks need to facilitate fiscal procedures and to abide by declared requirements.
The meeting also discussed procedures for opening credits and the role of banks in facilitating and approving the cash transfer mechanisms between Yemeni and Saudi banks.
The meeting discussed the international outlook for the Central Bank, the role of the International Monetary Fund, currency and bonds exchange rate developments, intervention and control procedures, and banking regulations for providing liquidity.
