Sanaa residents accuse Houthis of inflating gas prices

Faced with a steep rise in the price of domestic gas, residents of Sanaa and provinces under the control of the Houthis (Ansarallah) have accused the militia of manipulating the price of this household necessity.

The price of domestic gas has risen far above the official price, they said, pointing to a shortage of gas canisters at designated sales points and resulting high prices on the black market.

Marib province's local authority and domestic gas company Saffir have accused the Houthis and their allies, those loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, of raising the price of domestic gas canisters to three times the official price.

Saffir has accused the Houthis of raising the price of 20-litre domestic gas canisters to 5,500 Yemeni riyals ($22) in Sanaa and the provinces they control.

At a September 20th press conference in Marib, deputy mayor Abd Rabbu Miftah said the local authority and Saffir are keen to provide domestic gas to the Yemeni people throughout the provinces at the official price.

Any deviance from the official price can be attributed to the Houthis, he said.

The price of a gas canister from the gas company in Marib is 1,026 Yemeni riyals ($4), with a retail price of 1,500 riyals ($6) due to logistical expenses and hurdles placed by the Houthis, he said.

The daily production of domestic gas by Saffir is 70 to 75 gas tankers, he said, with more than 50 tankers a day going to the provinces under the control of the Houthis -- which include Sanaa, Mahweet, Hajja, Amran, Saada, Dhamar, Ibb and Taez -- due to the high density of population in those provinces.

'Gas is available'

Gas is available, and the Yemen Gas Company in Sanaa is monitoring the 23 selling points that have been given supplies at discounted prices, company spokesman Mohammed al-Qadimi told Al-Mashareq.

As for stations and sales points that sell gas at higher prices, al-Qadimi said this is due to the black market, where people try to make more money during difficult times.

In Sanaa, Khairan Hmoud, 27, told Al-Mashareq that he and his mother had been queuing at one of the designated sales points since early morning.

They have been trying to get two gas canisters at the reduced price in light of the high price of gas, delayed salaries and the overall difficult economic situation caused by the war, he said.

"Living conditions have become tough," public school teacher Aisha Mohammed told Al-Mashareq. "Yemenis are solely preoccupied with securing minimum standards of living since salaries have stopped for almost a year now."

"The rise in domestic gas prices is only adding to the human suffering," economist Abdo al-Wajihi told Al-Mashareq.