[29/July/2010]

SANA'A, July 29(Saba)- The Central Bank of Yemen (CBY) pumped on Thursday $ 57 million into the market to meet needs of foreign exchanges ,for the second intervention by the bank in July and the ninth since the beginning of 2010.

This intervention brings the total amount pumped by the bank since the beginning of this year to about $ 1.15 billion, of which $ 173 million is payments for Yemen imports of wheat.

The bank's interventions come to reduce the depreciation of the local currency against foreign currencies.

In a recent statement to Saba, the bank's Governor Mohamed bin Hammam attributed the new downturn in the exchange rate of Riyal against foreign currencies, especially the U.S. Dollar, to the increase of payments for importing requirements of the Holy month of Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr. He did not rule out the presence of speculators were manipulating in the exchange rates.

The CBY counts on the emigrants' remittances to Yemen, which would increase the size of the supply of foreign exchange and thus reduce the pressure of demand on the dollar in the local exchange market.

BA

Saba