UN warns of ‘extreme poverty’ in Yemen

“The currency depreciation and rising food prices have pushed many in Yemen into extreme poverty,” WFP said in a statement.

As a result, “hunger is rising, leaving many dependent on food assistance,” it added.

The humanitarian situation in Yemen is aggravated by the depreciation of the local currency, which reached more than 1,200 riyals against the US dollar in 2022.

Before the outbreak of the Yemeni conflict in 2014, the dollar price was 215 Yemeni riyals in the local market.

On Monday, the UN Coordination for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) also warned that “11 million people [in Yemen] will end up closer to starvation” due to the shortage of funding for the life-saving activities in Yemen.

Saudi Arabia and its allies launched a war against the Arab world’s most impoverished nation in March 2015. The war has been seeking to restore power in Yemen to Riyadh’s favorite officials.

The death toll of the war, now in its seventh year, will reach an estimated 377,000 by the end of 2021, according to a recent report from the UN’s Development Programme.

The fighting has seen some 80 percent of the population, or 24 million people, relying on aid and assistance, including 14.3 million who are in acute need.