Households in Sanaa will pay more for basic goods and travel after the Houthi-run Yemen Petroleum Company raised petrol prices to 5,250 Yemeni riyals, the first increase in territory under the group in about four years. Taxi drivers, shopkeepers and families say the change immediately pushes up transport bills and the cost of staples.
Ahmed Yahya, a 28-year-old taxi driver, said he fills his vehicle first each morning to keep working and feed his family. He previously bought petrol at 4,750 Yemeni riyals, roughly $8.90, and described the rise as another “painful surprise to an already devastated people.” Yahya said his household spends 75,000 Yemeni riyals [$140] a month on food such as flour, rice and cooking oil, and with the new fuel price they will need at least 85,000 Yemeni riyals [$159] to buy the same items. He also pays 25,000 Yemeni riyals [$47] in monthly rent, and said higher food bills will force him to choose between rent and food.
The Yemen Petroleum Company attributed the increase to a “global increase in fuel prices” and said the move would be temporary. The report linking this year’s global oil price rises to the impact of the United States-Israel war on Iran appears in accounts of the regional drivers. Locally, analysts and officials point to the Houthis’ recent capture of Yemen’s southern Red Sea coast and their attacks on Saudi Arabia as additional factors pushing prices up.
Merchants and transport workers say renewed fighting inside Yemen is lengthening supply routes and raising costs. Saleh Abdullah, a shopkeeper in Sanaa, said a goods truck that used to make the south-to-north journey in three days or less now takes up to a week, as drivers avoid roads near front lines. Those higher transport costs are passed on to consumers, he said, and customers often respond angrily at the till.
Officials at the Nehm customs checkpoint in Sanaa governorate reported a decline in the number of trucks arriving in the capital in recent weeks, a sign that merchants are rerouting or pausing deliveries to avoid conflict zones. Former humanitarian and aid workers describe the fuel rise as a “hunger multiplier,” saying reduced purchasing power will translate directly into fewer meals for already vulnerable families.
International assessments underline the stakes. An April IMF report said Yemen’s internal conflict has produced severe macroeconomic vulnerabilities and a marked fall in income per capita, leaving more than half the population in urgent need of humanitarian assistance. The UN Refugee Agency warned this week that the recent violence risks triggering a humanitarian crisis as more people are displaced, placing extra burdens on communities with limited resources.
The petrol price increase, together with disrupted transport and renewed fighting, is already translating into tighter household budgets and higher retail prices in Sanaa. The Yemen Petroleum Company said the rise is temporary, and humanitarian agencies are warning that further displacement and supply disruptions could deepen food insecurity across the country.
