As fighting intensifies across Yemen between the government and the Houthis, millions of people are confronting another battle far from the front lines: the deteriorating living and economic conditions in the country.
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millions → intensify → country
With salaries for large segments of the workforce either unpaid or irregularly disbursed – and the prices of goods and services rising – Yemen’s economic struggles have been compounded by a divided banking system that has made moving money between different parts of the country increasingly complicated.
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government → disburse → Houthis
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they → join → ?
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From Aden’s struggling shoppers to displaced families in Marib and unpaid public-sector workers in Sanaa, Yemenis are being forced to make difficult choices about what they can afford, and what they must go without.
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they → redrew → what
Aden: Food costs swallow salaries
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costs → swallow → salaries
In Aden, the internationally recognised Yemeni government’s interim capital in the south, the problem is not so much a shortage of goods in markets as people’s inability to afford them.
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problem → recognise → them
Salaries have failed to keep pace with the rising costs of food, rent, healthcare and transport, leaving workers with little money left over at the end of the month.
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Salaries → fail → month
The consequences are evident in the smaller quantities and cheaper products that now make up shoppers’ baskets, and the decisions they are forced to make about what to cut back on.
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they → make → what
She earns 78,000 Yemeni riyals ($50) a month at the black market exchange rate while typical household food costs in government-held areas run about 130,366 riyals ($83), according to estimates by the Yemen Economic Tracking Initiative.
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costs → earn → Initiative
And that’s before she factors in the cost of rent, transport, healthcare and other household expenses.
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she → ’ → rent
The economic difficulties facing Yemenis like Bushra illustrate how more than a decade of war has devastated the economy.
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more → face → economy
According to the World Bank, real GDP per capita has fallen by approximately 58 percent since 2015.
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GDP → accord → 2015
The fragmentation of Yemen’s monetary institutions between the government and the Houthis – who have operated their own institutions since seizing the capital, Sanaa, in 2014 – along with the disruption of oil exports, and declining international assistance have all contributed to the economic decline.
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who → operate → decline
Bushra told Al Jazeera that rising prices have forced many households to give up almost all non-essential purchases and cut back on some expensive basics, particularly meat.
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prices → tell → basics
Other families, she said, have resorted to buying food in smaller quantities, sometimes on credit or loans.
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she → say → credit
Reduced demand
The impact of rising prices is reflected not only in economic figures but also in the way people shop.
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people → reduce → way
Ayman al-Maqtari, who works at a shopping centre in Aden’s Mansoura district, said that his customers now rarely buy non-essential items.
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customers → work → items
When it comes to the essentials such as rice, sugar, flour, and cooking oil, he has noticed that customers size up the price of each item before putting it in their baskets.
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customers → come → baskets
They are also buying smaller quantities, for example, opting for a 5kg (11 pound) over a 40kg (90 pound) bag of rice.
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They → buy → rice
“Many people have come to live day by day, or week by week,” Ayman told Al Jazeera, adding that more families are buying on credit when they run out of money before the end of the month.
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they → come → month
The decline in purchasing power is also affecting commercial activity.
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decline → affect → activity
Across several streets and shopping centres in Aden, advertisements for discounts and special offers have become increasingly visible in shop windows and on retailers’ social media pages, as businesses attempt to attract customers and boost sales.
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businesses → become → sales
Weak demand, retailers say, is particularly evident for items that households can put off buying, such as clothing and household goods.
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households → say → clothing
A growing share of family income is spent on food, rent, healthcare and transport.
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share → grow → food
Limited pay increase
The Yemeni government approved a 20 percent cost-of-living allowance in May for public-sector employees in an attempt to ease the pressure of rising prices.
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government → approve → prices
But the amount is calculated based on each employee’s base salary, rather than their total pay, meaning the actual increase is relatively small for many workers.
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increase → calculate → workers
Bushra, the government employee in Aden, said the increase has done little to improve her family’s financial circumstances.
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increase → say → circumstances
She described the allowance as “a temporary painkiller that does not reflect the scale of the actual pressure on people’s living standards”.
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that → describe → standards
Her experience is far from isolated.
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experience → isolate → ?
In early October, the World Food Programme said its latest monitoring in accessible government-controlled areas showed that 74 percent of households were unable to meet their basic food needs.
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percent → say → needs
One of the places where the crisis is evident is Marib, a government-controlled city east of Sanaa that is home to hundreds of thousands of displaced people.
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that → control → people
The sharp increase in the population over the war years, in what was previously a provincial backwater, has led to pressure on the city’s housing, employment and public services.
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what → lead → housing
Government employees in Marib see their salaries disappear within the first few days after being paid, labourers struggle to find more than a few days of work and displaced families are forced to choose between buying water and milk.
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families → see → water
Salah al-Zuhaifi works for a government institution in Marib.
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Zuhaifi → work → Marib
He said the war has separated him from his parents, who live in Houthi-controlled territory.
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who → say → territory
Alone in Marib, al-Zuhaifi said that inflation had eroded much of his salary’s purchasing power.
“No matter how much you earn, it will not be enough to meet your needs,” he said.
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he → say → needs
Abu Mohammed Nasser al-Asbahi, another government employee, described a similar struggle.
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Asbahi → describe → struggle
He told Al Jazeera that he earns 400,000 riyals ($250) a month, but more than half of that goes towards his rent, leaving little for his other expenses.
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half → tell → expenses
“We don’t even get to the first one-third of the month before the salary is gone,” he said, explaining that his family spends the rest of the month relying on loans and credit from local shops.
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family → get → shops
The healthcare sector in Marib has also been affected by widespread household spending cuts.
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sector → affect → cuts
…and 14 more, not listed.
The Aporia
