Saudi Arabia gives Yemen’s government nearly $60 million in budget support

Saudi Arabia has given Yemen’s government more than 224 million riyals (about $59.7 million) in fresh budget support, Saudi ambassador to Yemen Mohamed Al Jabir announced on Thursday, according to the English edition of The Times of India.

The funding, provided through the Saudi Development and Reconstruction Program for Yemen, aims to support the government’s cash flows, fiscal policy and the purchasing power of Yemenis. The announcement comes at a moment of escalated tension between Saudi Arabia and the Iran-linked Houthi rebels, who have intensified attacks on Saudi cities and the kingdom’s energy infrastructure.

The internationally recognized administration in Aden has long faced a weak currency and high prices, ever since the Houthis drove former president Ali Abdullah Saleh from the capital Sanaa in late 2014, triggering a civil war of more than a decade. A Saudi-led military coalition intervened in Yemen in March 2015 to restore its exiled government, and since then the country has been divided between the internationally recognized government in Aden and the Houthi administration in Sanaa.

Riyadh has given Yemen billions of dollars in aid and deposits over the years to support the finances of the government in Aden and pay public-sector salaries, and this new budget support comes as Saudi efforts to respond to the Houthi advance on the Red Sea coast continue.