World Bank: Houthi Blockade on Oil Exports in Yemen Worsens Food Security

Yemen’s GDP is projected to contract by 1% in 2024 (WB)
Yemen’s GDP is projected to contract by 1% in 2024 (WB)
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World Bank: Houthi Blockade on Oil Exports in Yemen Worsens Food Security

Yemen’s GDP is projected to contract by 1% in 2024 (WB)
Yemen’s GDP is projected to contract by 1% in 2024 (WB)

The World Bank said on Friday that the Houthi blockade on oil exports has led to the deterioration of food security in Yemen to unprecedented levels.
It stressed that Yemen’s economy continues to confront deepening challenges as prolonged conflict, political fragmentation, and escalating regional tensions drive the country into an even more severe humanitarian and economic crisis.
In the Fall edition of its Yemen Economic Monitor (YEM) entitled “Confronting Escalating Challenges,” the WB revealed that Yemen’s GDP is projected to contract by 1% in 2024, following a 2% decline in 2023, exacerbating the 54% drop in real GDP per capita since 2015.
It then affirmed that the conflict has pushed most Yemenis into poverty, while food insecurity has reached historic levels, with over 60% of the population now facing inadequate access to food.
The report also underscored the significant economic hardships caused by the continued Houthi blockade on oil exports, which contributed to a 42% drop in fiscal revenues for the internationally recognized government in the first half of 2024, preventing it from providing essential services to the population.
The suspension of the government oil exports, combined with a heavy reliance on imports, has intensified external pressures, leading to a depreciation of the Yemeni Rial in the Aden market from 1,619 per US dollar in January 2024 to 1,917 by the end of August, it noted.
Living Conditions Deteriorate
Since 2023, the WB report said living conditions have deteriorated drastically for the majority of the population.
In July 2024, World Bank phone surveys indicated that severe food deprivation more than doubled in some governorates.
Also, economic fragmentation between Houthi-held and government-controlled areas continues to worsen, with disparities in inflation and exchange rates undermining both stability and future recovery efforts.
Simultaneously, regional tensions, especially in the Red Sea, have led to a more than 60% reduction in traffic through the strategic Bab El-Mandeb Strait and the Suez Canal.
However, the report said these disruptions have not yet resulted in significant increases in consumer prices.
“Yemen’s economic and humanitarian challenges are growing more acute, yet the opportunity remains to reverse this downward trend with the right support,” said Dina Abu-Ghaida, WB Country Manager for Yemen.
She added that immediate action is required, including addressing fiscal and external imbalances, mitigating food insecurity, and fostering greater stability. “We remain committed to working closely with partners to support Yemen’s recovery and pave the way for a sustainable future.”
Potential Risks
In its report, the WB further detailed the potential risks to Yemen’s banking sector, which faced mounting tensions between the Houthis and government-controlled government over regulatory control in the first half of the year.
While regional and international mediation efforts have helped ease some tensions, the report said the situation remains fragile, and the report recommends strengthening institutional resilience to manage inflation and fiscal challenges.
It also suggests improving trade routes and access to financial services to ease economic pressures and prevent further fragmentation.
The report affirmed that Yemen’s economic outlook for 2025 remains bleak, with the continuation of regional conflict and internal strife threatening to deepen the fragmentation and worsen the social and humanitarian crisis.
However, it noted that a potential peace dividend could spur rapid economic recovery, should a durable peace agreement be reached.
“This would pave the way for vital external assistance, reconstruction, and reforms necessary to stabilize the country and its economy,” the report said.

 



Many in Gaza are Eating Just Once a Day, as Hunger Spreads amid Aid Issues

An Israeli tank and other military vehicles guard a position as Palestinians flee Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip, on January 26, 2024, amid ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.  (Photo by Mahmud Hams / AFP)
An Israeli tank and other military vehicles guard a position as Palestinians flee Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip, on January 26, 2024, amid ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.  (Photo by Mahmud Hams / AFP)
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Many in Gaza are Eating Just Once a Day, as Hunger Spreads amid Aid Issues

An Israeli tank and other military vehicles guard a position as Palestinians flee Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip, on January 26, 2024, amid ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.  (Photo by Mahmud Hams / AFP)
An Israeli tank and other military vehicles guard a position as Palestinians flee Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip, on January 26, 2024, amid ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.  (Photo by Mahmud Hams / AFP)

Yasmin Eid coughs and covers her face, cooking a small pot of lentils over a fire fed with twigs and scrap paper in the tent she shares with her husband and four young daughters in the Gaza Strip.
It was their only meal Wednesday — it was all they could afford.
“My girls suck on their thumbs because of how hungry they are, and I pat their backs until they sleep,” she said.
After being displaced five times, the Eids reside in central Gaza, where aid groups have relatively more access than in the north, which has been largely isolated and heavily destroyed since Israel began waging a renewed offensive against the militant group Hamas in early October. But nearly everyone in Gaza is going hungry these days. In the north experts say a full-blown famine may be underway, The Associated Press said.
On Thursday, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister, accusing them of using “starvation as a method of warfare” — charges Israel adamantly denies.
In Deir al-Balah, the Eids are among hundreds of thousands sheltering in squalid tent camps. The local bakeries shut down for five days this week. The price of a bag of bread climbed above $13 by Wednesday, as bread and flour vanished from shelves before more supplies arrived.
The United Nations humanitarian office warned of a “stark increase” in the number of households experiencing severe hunger in central and southern Gaza. It appeared to be linked to the robbery at gunpoint of nearly 100 aid trucks last weekend in southern Gaza, close to Israeli military positions. Israel blamed Hamas but appears to have taken no action to stop the looting, while Hamas said it was the work of local bandits.
Aid groups say the looting is one of many obstacles to getting food and other vital aid to the territory's 2.3 million Palestinians. They also have to contend with Israeli movement restrictions, ongoing fighting, and heavy damage wreaked by the Israeli bombardment of roads and critical infrastructure.
For the Eids, hunger is the daily routine For months, Yasmin and her family have gone to bed hungry.
“Everything has increased in price, and we cannot buy anything," she said. “We always go to sleep without having dinner.”
She misses coffee, but a single packet of Nescafe goes for around $1.30. A kilogram (2 pounds) of onions goes for $10, a medium bottle of cooking oil for $15 — if available. Meat and chicken all but vanished from the markets months ago, but there are still some local vegetables. Such sums are astronomical in an impoverished territory where few people earn regular incomes.
Crowds of hundreds wait hours to get food from charities, which are also struggling.
Hani Almadhoun, co-founder of the Gaza Soup Kitchen, said his teams can offer only small bowls of rice or pasta once a day. He said they “can go to the market on one day and buy something for $5, and then go back in the afternoon to find it doubled or tripled in price.”
Its kitchen in the central town of Zuweida operated on a daily budget of around $500 for much of the war. When the amount of aid entering Gaza plummeted in October, its costs climbed to around $1,300 a day. It can feed about half of the 1,000 families who line up each day.
The sharp decline in aid, and a US ultimatum Israel says it places no limits on the amount of aid entering Gaza and has announced a number of measures it says are aimed at increasing the flow in recent weeks, including the opening of a new crossing. It blames UN agencies for not retrieving it, pointing to hundreds of truckloads languishing on the Gaza side of the border.
But the military's own figures show that the amount of aid entering Gaza plunged to around 1,800 trucks in October, down from over 4,200 the previous month. At the current rate of entry, around 2,400 trucks would come into Gaza in November. Around 500 trucks entered each day before the war.
The UN says less than half the truckloads are actually distributed because of ongoing fighting, Israeli denial of movement requests, and the breakdown of law and order. Hamas-run police have vanished from many areas after being targeted by Israeli airstrikes.
The war started Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas-led fighters stormed into Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting around 250. Around 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, at least a third of whom are dead, and Hamas militants have repeatedly regrouped after Israeli operations, carrying out hit-and-run attacks from tunnels and bombed-out buildings.
Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed over 44,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to local health authorities, who do not say how many of the dead were fighters.
The United States warned Israel in October that it might be forced to curtail some of its crucial military support if Israel did not rapidly ramp up the amount of aid entering Gaza. But after the 30-day ultimatum expired, the Biden administration declined to take any action, saying there had been some progress.
Israel meanwhile passed legislation severing ties with UNRWA. Israel accuses the agency of allowing itself to be infiltrated by Hamas — allegations denied by the UN.
Israeli news outlets have reported that officials are considering plans for the military to take over aid distribution or contract it out to private security companies. Asked about such plans Wednesday, government spokesman David Mercer said “Israel is looking at many creative solutions to ensure a better future for Gaza.”
Yoav Gallant, the former defense minister who was seen as a voice of moderation in the far-right government before being fired this month, warned on X that handing over aid distribution to a private firm was a “euphemism for the beginning of military rule.”
As that debate plays out in Jerusalem, less than 100 kilometers (60 miles) away from central Gaza, most Palestinians in the territory are focused on staying alive in a war with no end in sight.
“I find it difficult to talk about the suffering we are experiencing. I am ashamed to talk about it,” said Yasmin’s husband, Hani. “What can I tell you? I’m a person who has 21 family members and is unable to provide them with a bag of flour.”