Bread prices in Yemen rise by 35% over Ukraine war: Oxfam

SANAA, Yemen (AA) – Bread prices in Yemen have spiked up to 35 percent, according to the UK-based international humanitarian organization Oxfam on Thursday.

“The human cost of the war in Yemen is rising sharply as the conflict enters its eighth year, with the number of civilian deaths increasing sharply, hunger on the rise and three quarters of the population in urgent need of humanitarian support,” Oxfam said in a statement.

It added, “In Sanaa l, bread went up 35 percent over the week that fighting broke out.”

The NGO said Yemen imports 42% of its grain from Ukraine, but the Russian war on the country has disrupted the supplies of grain and cooking oil to the war-torn Arab country.

Russia's war on Ukraine, which began on Feb. 24, has been met with international outrage, with the European Union, US and UK among others implementing tough financial sanctions on Moscow.

At least 977 civilians have been killed during the war and 1,594 injured, according to UN estimates.

Another crisis in Yemen that has been worsened by the Russia’s war on Ukraine is the fuel crisis, Oxfam said.

“Seven long years of war have also caused a fuel crisis. Prices have risen 543% since 2019, trebling in just the last three months. Queues at petrol stations are so long that it can take three days to reach the forecourt,” it added.

The UN is set to launch an appeal for an almost $4.3 billion aid package for war-stricken Yemen to help over 17 million people in the country.

Yemen has been engulfed by violence and instability since 2014, when Iran-aligned Houthi rebels captured much of the country, including the capital Sanaa.

The conflict has created one of the world's worst man-made humanitarian crises, with 23.4 million people in need of humanitarian assistance and protection and more than 19 million are in danger of starvation, according to latest UN estimates.

*Writing by Ibrahim Mukhtar in Ankara