Houthi militias use the conflict to achieve financial gains

The coalition between Houthi militias and forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh depends on the so-called “hidden economy” to support their military activities, according to reports issued by a number of experts working with the United Nations.
According to the report, Houthi militants and other elements loyal to them strongly benefited from the current conflict, as they developed a number of sources to expand their financial gains. They imposed trade tax by 20 percent on the sales of trade institutions and salaries of civil services. They also depended on tariffs imposed on smugglers and black market traders.
The UN experts added that Houthi militants imposed taxes estimated at four riyals for the sale of each liter of petroleum production, saying that this taxes provide them with over $ 237 million. They also use the technology of cell phones to call the people loyal to them for donating to them using the text messages.
They added that the Yemeni Ministry of Defense received budget appropriations from the Central Bank, according to the state budget of 2014.
The report added that the armed conflict provided an opportunity to the Houthi militias and their allies of Saleh’s forces in addition to extremist groups of ISIS and Qaeda to find new sources to achieve financial gains to support their military activities in Yemen and to secure the tribal coalitions.
The report stressed that the financial position is very bad in the country during the current period, stressing the need for exerting more efforts during the coming period to resolve the humanitarian crisis witnessed in the country. and forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh depends on the so-called “hidden economy” to support their military activities, according to reports issued by a number of experts working with the United Nations.