Yemen COVID-19 Joint Market Monitoring Initiative, dates of data collection: 23 August - 30 August 2020

INTRODUCTION

The Yemen Joint Market Monitoring Initiative (JMMI) was launched by REACH in collaboration with the Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) Cluster and the Cash and Market Working Group (CMWG) to support humanitarian actors with the harmonisation of price monitoring among all cash actors in Yemen. With the current global COVID-19 pandemic, REACH has adapted the JMMI to begin assessing the potential impact of the pandemic on markets and on respondents’ businesses. The JMMI continues to collect price data for fuel, water, hygiene products, and food items including all the components of the WASH and food Survival Minimum Expenditure Basket (SMEB). In addition, new indicators specific to the COVID-19 crisis and its potential impact on markets are now being tracked on a bi-weekly basis from April 2020 (by rounds #R)^. Findings are based on 277 interviews with vendor key informants (KIs), and are to be considered indicative only. Additional methodology can be found in the full JMMI fact sheet.

KEY FINDINGS: 23 - 30 AUGUST 2020

• The reported number of open businesses within a 2 minute walk from KIs’ stalls increased compared to last round.
• Sana’a city has recorded the highest cost of a cubic meter of water trucking compared to other assessed governorates, thus causing an increase in WASH SMEB cost in the governorate.
• Price inflation remains the most commonly reported economic issue when obtaining fuel, WASH, food items, and water trucking services.
• The food SMEB cost was found to have increased by 3.7% since the first round of data collection in August, and the WASH SMEB cost also increased by 5.1%, contributing to a 4.0% increase in the overall SMEB cost.
• The proportion of vendor KIs reporting being able to absorb a 50% and 100% increase in demand for food items has dropped considerably.
• Exchange rates seemingly continued to differ across the country: rates under 600 Yemeni Riyals (YER) to one US dollar (USD) were reported in Al Hudaydah and Ibb. Meanwhile, the highest exchange rates were reported in Aden, Lahj, Abyan and Shabwah.