London, 15 July 2022 (TDI): The United Kingdom’s Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) have jointly announced $1.1 million in funding to Yemen.
🇬🇧 is proud to partner with @USAID on a fourth phase of support for Yemen’s economic institutions
These organisations are leading work to stabilise the economy – key to lowering humanitarian need and security a better future for Yemenis
Link below 👇 https://t.co/m573dFMXtG
— Amanda Milling (@amandamilling) July 13, 2022
The funding was announced at the signing of a memorandum of understanding between USAID and FCDO.
The aid of 900,000 British pounds –equivalent to $1.1 million will be provided through a joint program between the two countries.
In partnership with @FCDOGovUK, @USAID signed our 4th agreement to support the Central Bank of Yemen. The US is working to build on the progress of the current truce; strengthening Yemeni economic institutions is key to the country’s economic recovery. https://t.co/hXf2BTYFtO
— Samantha Power (@PowerUSAID) July 11, 2022
The funding is mainly to support key economic institutions in Yemen. It will be provided to support the Central Bank of Yemen (CBY) for anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing activities.
Furthermore, the funding will also support CBY in publishing reports and data on foreign reserve accounts, debt indicators, and banking balance sheets.
The CBY will publish these in coordination with the Ministry of Finance of Yemen.
The UK Ambassador to Yemen, Richard Oppenheim, said, “Strengthening economic institutions to introduce reforms will ultimately reduce the humanitarian need in Yemen by addressing underlying structural problems that continually undermine the country’s food security.”
The UK-US joint diplomatic efforts aimed at reforms fundamental to an independent central bank and a transparent fiscal system.
US Ambassador to Yemen, Steve Fagin, said, “Strengthening key economic institutions in Yemen is essential to stabilize the economy and put the country on a path to economic recovery”.
The Ambassador added, “The United States is proud to work with our British and Yemeni partners on this important transformation.”
USAID and FCDO
This is the fourth such MoU announced by USAID and FCDO jointly. The previous three joint funding to Yemen since December 2019 have totaled about $3.5 million.
The recent MoU aims to build on the achievements of the previous years. The agreement aims at introducing a transformational competitive foreign exchange auction system. It will also introduce detailed reporting guidelines for utilizing auction proceeds.
Ambassador Fagin said, “This partnership is a testament to the collective progress we have made through USAID’s technical expertise.”
The US has also, previously this year, announced $585 million in humanitarian assistance for the people of Yemen.
