Yemen

The World Bank Group’s engagement in Yemen is focused on supporting people and preserving the institutions that serve them. Since re-engagement in 2016, the World Bank, through its concessional arm, IDA, has provided more than $3.9 billion in grants in partnership with UN agencies to sustain critical services and build resilience. Priorities include service delivery, human capital, food security, and livelihoods. IFC complements these efforts by mobilizing private capital, expanding financial inclusion, and investing in strategic sectors such as agribusiness, energy, health, and finance to support recovery and long-term growth.

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Yemen is experiencing one of the world’s most severe humanitarian and economic crises. Since 2015, real GDP per capita has fallen by 58 percent, splitting the economy into two zones with competing institutions and leaving most of the population in poverty. Around 17 million people face food insecurity, and 18 million lack access to safe water and sanitation, forcing families into negative coping strategies such as child labor and school dropouts. In areas under the Internationally Recognized Government, inflation and currency depreciation continue, while liquidity shortages limit economic activity in areas controlled by the Houthi movement. Reduced aid and rising Red Sea tensions further weaken prospects, leaving the 2025 outlook bleak.

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IDA financing has sustained essential services, preserved human capital, and strengthened local institutions in Yemen. Programs provide cash transfers to 1.4 million vulnerable households, temporary employment for tens of thousands, and access to health, nutrition, and water services for millions. Projects are restoring urban infrastructure, rehabilitating rural roads, and expanding household and facility access to solar-powered electricity. Food security interventions are rehabilitating farmland, improving water systems, and supporting farmer resilience. IFC complements these efforts with investments in food production, education, healthcare, and financial institutions, positioning the private sector as a driver of recovery and inclusive growth.

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Since 2021, IFC has invested $55 million and mobilized $20 million (with an additional $60 million committed) for Hayel Saeed Anam Group, one of the leading conglomerates in food in Yemen, to help  ramp up production and distribution of essential food supplies. This was in partnership with FMO, the Dutch entrepreneurial development bank, which – with IFC’s help - was able to enter the Yemeni market for the first time. The financing package also included a partial guarantee from IDA's Private Sector Window to make the project more bankable to investors who would not otherwise have entered the market.

In 2025, IFC also invested $8 million in Islamic financing to Al-Mawarid International Company for Educational and Health Services, a leading provider of education and healthcare in Yemen. Operating under the University of Science and Technology (UST) brand, Al-Mawarid International runs four campuses in Aden. The financing will help Al-Mawarid International build a new hospital next to its headquarters. Through this project, Al-Mawarid International will initially open a 60-bed teaching hospital, with plans to expand to 250 beds within two years, with potential additional support from IFC. Partially powered by a new solar energy installation, the hospital is expected to serve over 160,000 patients annually, improving healthcare access, addressing infrastructure gaps, and reducing travel and wait times for treatment. It will also create 850 direct and indirect jobs, provide high-quality education to medical students, and boost the supply of skilled healthcare professionals in Yemen.

In addition, in 2021, IFC signed a trade finance facility with Al Kuraimi Islamic Bank, marking the first expansion of the Global Trade Finance Program (GTFP), IFC's flagship trade finance program, into Yemen. This aims to support Al Kuraimi Islamic Bank with its efforts to increase access to finance for Yemeni businesses and to develop its trade financing operations to allow for trade flows of critical goods into the country. The trade finance guarantee facility is part of IFC's broader efforts to support Yemen's private sector. By providing risk mitigation in challenging markets where trade lines may be constrained, GTFP extends and complements the capacity of banks to deliver trade financing and expand their network of corresponding banks globally.

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IDA financing has supported critical service delivery as well as for preserving human capital and the capacity of national institutions. IDA assistance has targeted the poorest and most vulnerable Yemeni households and communities, helping them cope with the impact of the crisis through income support, cash transfers, health and nutrition interventions, cholera response, and restoring agricultural production.

The Emergency Crisis Response Project (ECRP), the World Bank's $848.58 million project that supported livelihood opportunities in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and local institutions, namely the Social Fund for Development (SFD) and the Public Works Project (PWP), supported a cash‑for‑work and community‑based investment program. The project closed on March 31, 2022, having achieved substantial results over seven years. Over 443,000 people were provided with wage employment, and 5.4 million people received access to community services (such as water, irrigation, and better roads. Over 678,000 mothers and children received nutrition services. Five microfinance institutions and over 5,000 microfinance clients were supported.

Responding to the risk of famine, the $472.14 million emergency cash transfer component of the ECRP, implemented by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) conducted 10 cycles of emergency cash transfer payments to poor and vulnerable households across Yemen's 333 districts. The Emergency Cash Transfer program was financed partially through the World Bank's Crisis Response Window, with co‑financing from the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and the United States Department of State, through the Yemen Emergency Multi‑Donor Trust Fund. Post‑distribution monitoring found that, on average, 91% of beneficiaries used cash transfers to purchase food. Women comprised about 45% of the direct recipients.

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