ADEN, Yemen, April 9 (Xinhua) -- Yemeni Prime Minister Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak announced Tuesday that his government has lost more than 2 billion U.S. dollars in revenue due to the suspension of oil exports following the Houthi group's attacks on export terminals.
Addressing a meeting of the local officials in Mukalla, the capital of Hadramout province, Bin Mubarak said the "economic war" being waged by the Houthis began in October 2022 when the group struck the Dhabah oil export terminal.
"Last year, we lost approximately 3 trillion Yemeni riyals, or approximately 2 billion U.S. dollars, of our revenues after we were prevented from exporting oil," he said.
Bin Mubarak also accused the Houthis of killing more than 300 Yemenis in the past three months, violating the fragile calm that followed the expiration of a UN-brokered truce in early October 2022. He emphasized that Yemen remains in a state of war with the Houthis.
Oil exports account for 75 percent of the Yemeni government's budget. The Houthi attacks on key oil facilities controlled by the government have triggered a financial crisis, leaving the government struggling to pay public sector salaries and supplying fuel for power plants in areas under its control.
Yemen has been embroiled in a protracted civil conflict since 2014, when the Houthis seized control of the capital, Sanaa. In 2015, a Saudi-led military coalition intervened in an attempt to restore the government.
Despite diplomatic endeavors over the years, neither side has demonstrated the will to revive negotiations aimed at resolving the conflict which, according to UN estimates, has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives and pushed millions more to the brink of famine. ■
