Yemen moves central bank HQ to Aden

Yemen’s exiled president Abdrabbu Mansour Hadi appointed Finance Minister Monasser Al Quaiti as head of the country’s central bank on Sunday, the state-run sabanew.net news agency reported.

The decree announcing the appointment included a decision to move the bank’s headquarters from the capital Sanaa to the southern port city of Aden, according to the report.

Hadi also appointed Ahmed Obaid Al Fadhli to replace Al Quaiti as finance minister, it said.

The central bank has been the last bastion of the impoverished country’s financial system amid a civil war and is effectively running the economy, according to central bank officials, diplomats and Yemenis on both sides of the war.

Hadi is backed by a Saudi-led Arab coalition, which has been waging an offensive trying to roll back gains made by the Iran-backed Houthi militias since 2014.

His government asked international financial institutions last month to prevent central bank officials from accessing state funds held in overseas banks, sabanew.net reported on August 6.

The government has accused the Iran-allied Houthis of squandering some $4 billion on the war effort from central bank reserves, but the Houthis say the funds were used to finance imports of food and medicine.