Fuel prices jump in Yemen as 20 litres of diesel goes from 25,000 to 45,000 riyals

Al Jazeera reported on Wednesday 29 July 2026 that a jump in fuel prices in government-controlled parts of Yemen has all but halted construction in the country's east and southwest. Twenty litres of diesel cost 25,000 Yemeni riyals ($17) in January and now cost 45,000 riyals ($30). The increase has spilled into goods and services that depend on fuel and transport: a truckload of sand has gone from 130,000 riyals ($87) to 190,000 riyals ($127), and the average price of a metre of window glass from 90,000 riyals ($60) to 130,000 riyals ($87).

An official at the Yemen Petroleum Company in Aden told Reuters in May that the diesel price increase was caused by a worsening supply crisis and rising global fuel prices, driven by regional tensions and the situation in the Strait of Hormuz, along with higher transport and marine insurance costs. Wafeeq Saleh, executive director of the Taiz Center for Yemeni-Gulf Studies, told Al Jazeera that Yemen imports nearly 90 percent of its needs, so any disruption in global commodity markets passes straight into the local market.

In Houthi-controlled areas including the capital Sanaa there has been no comparable jump so far, with 20 litres of diesel costing 9,500 Yemeni riyals, roughly $18 at the exchange rate set in Sanaa. After years of war Yemen's economy runs on two separate structures, with two exchange rates and a central bank split between Aden and Sanaa.