Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether she plans to maintain the (a) 2 June 2020 commitment to allocate £160 million in aid to Yemen and (b) level of all other planned assistance to that country.
I announced the UK’s commitment of £160 million in new aid for the current financial year (2020/21) at the 2020 Yemen Humanitarian Pledging Conference on 2 June. This was the third highest pledge at the conference and brings the total UK commitment to nearly £1 billion since the conflict began in 2015.
I can assure you that Yemen remains a key priority for the UK Government and that we have every intention of meeting our commitment. We have already provided 32% of this funding to our humanitarian and development partners operating in Yemen and hope to have disbursed over 50% by the end of July.
The UK has also announced up to £764 million of aid to support the global efforts to combat the outbreak of COVID-19. This includes contributing £150 million to the IMF’s Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust which will provide the world’s poorest countries, including Yemen, with IMF debt relief over the next six months.