The war economy and the new rich in Yemen..the war effort as a means of influence and enrichment

English - Saturday 11 June 2022 الساعة 10:21 am
Taiz, NewsYemen, special:

A recent economic report sheds light on the emergence of a new class of wealthy people who have accumulated fortunes as a result of military and political influence within the current eight-year war in Yemen. 

The report issued by the Center for Studies and Economic Media entitled: “Yemeni Economy 2021: The War Economy and the New Rich,” said that this phenomenon is a direct product of the war, which has turned into an “important means of enriching a new class of the new political and economic elite whose interests are intertwined in a way that ensures the survival of the situation on the grounds.”  This is the situation, and even pushes to exacerbate it even more.”

The report pointed to the great wealth of influential networks close to the Houthi group through a series of commercial and investment activities enhanced by influence and proximity to the group's leaders, and the role they play in fueling the war.

The report also indicates how another parasitic class has emerged in the areas under the control of the internationally recognized government, benefiting from the multiplicity of authorities and powerful forces and unregulated regional support. The sale and smuggling of arms, levies and the awarding of contracts constituted one of the main features of this type of wealth associated with war and benefiting from it.

While the report lists the most prominent violations that have affected the Yemeni private sector, the report warns that it is "on the verge of collapsing at the expense of a parasitic monopolistic class that benefited and benefited from the chaos of war."

The report says that the war effort imposed by the Houthi militia has become a "means of influence and enrichment" for leaders in the group, stressing that it has gained control of the financial and business market in the areas under its control in Yemen.

The report lists the most prominent sources of funding for the Houthi militia, on top of which is the money that it seized from the central bank’s coffers during its coup in 2014, in addition to the revenues collected in its areas of control, the fees and royalties it imposes on the population, and the money and aid it takes for relief organizations.  In addition to confiscation of assets, money and property of its opponents.

Pointing out that these funds enabled it to create a new financial empire, which led it to change the balance of power and control the import market in Yemen, and these funds are managed through exchange companies away from banks.  Where the report counts 250 new exchange companies.  It was authorized to conduct its wartime activities in Sana'a, Saada and other governorates.

The report says that during the war, the Houthi group granted licenses to 178 importing companies for oil derivatives to control this market, whose revenues in its areas of control amounted to more than 30 billion riyals per month.  Among the most prominent of these companies are "Yemen Elaf" and "Oss Oil", which are owned by the spokesman of the Houthi group, Muhammad Abdul Salam Falitah.

The most dangerous thing in the report was the talk about the Houthi group’s control of the drug import and marketing market through companies affiliated with the group’s leaders, led by Taha Al-Mutawakel and Saleh Al-Shaer.

The report says that these companies are importing counterfeit products and replacing them with the usual ones, which prompted a number of doctors, surgeons and anesthesia technicians to stop practicing their work for fear of complications that the patient might suffer as a result of these counterfeit medicines.