WFP Yemen Food Security Update, March 2023

Highlights

• In IRG-controlled areas, the monthly average value of the Yemeni rial remained at similar level against the US dollar compared to the previous month reaching YER 1,234 per USD at the end of February. On 21st of February, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia released an economic support package, worth USD one billion, through the Arab Monetary Fund to be deposited later in CBY-Aden.

• In February 2023, pumping prices of fuel in Yemen remained almost unchanged from the previous month. However, year-on-year, pumping prices for petrol decreased by eight percent across the southern governorates and by 24 percent in the north, while being slightly higher for diesel countrywide than the level recorded in 2022.

• The global FAO Food Price Index (FFPI) slightly decreased by 0.6 percent during February 2023 compared to the previous month, yet the value of FFPI decreased by 19 percent from the all-time high level reached in March 2022, and by eight percent compared to February 2022.

• In February 2023, the monthly average cost of the minimum food basket (MFB) has not changed in areas under IRG from the previous month, while it increased by 12 percent year-on-year. At the same time, in areas under Sana’a-based authorities, the cost of the MFB continued to gradually decrease for the seventh consecutive month, marking a three percent year-on-year decrease.

• The fuel supply into Yemen improved since the activation of the truce.
  The total volume of imported fuel through the Red Sea ports in January and February 2023 was nearly five times the level of imports during the same period last year.

• During January-February 2023, the volume of food imports through the southern ports of Aden and Mukalla was 23 percent higher than the same period in 2022. However, it decreased by 13 percent in the northern ports of Al Hodeidah and Salif.

• WFP is currently targeting 13 million people each distribution cycle with reduced rations. Following the increases in funding for food assistance since September 2022, households are receiving a food ration equivalent to 65 percent of the standard food basket, instead of the 45 percent of that basket which was dispatched before September 2022.

• While the overall share of households with inadequate food consumption continued to decrease in Yemen since September 2022, people’s access to food remained constrained nationwide.
  Approximately 52 percent of the surveyed families in IRG-controlled areas and 47 percent of those in areas under Sana'a-based authorities were unable to access an adequate diet during February 2023, still higher than reported levels during the same month last year of 47 percent and 43 percent, respectively.