How do people in Yemen pay online?
Few people bank or shop online. In the World Bank’s 2022 Global Findex survey, 11.9% of adults had an account and 4.2% owned a debit card. The latest World Bank figure for internet use, from 2019 and based on ITU data, is 17.5% of the population.
Mobile wallets are the main digital alternative. ONE Cash, part of the Hayel Saeed Anam Group, launched in December 2022. Forbes Middle East reports that it has more than 700,000 active customers and more than 15,000 agents, and that it handled 14.7 million transactions worth USD 2.5 billion in 2024. Jawali, a service of WeCash, is an e-wallet that lets users pay for purchases, transfer money, pay bills and top up phones without a bank account, with deposits and withdrawals at authorised agents. Opening a Jawali account needs an active mobile number and an identity document.
Cards are a small channel. With few adults holding a debit card, cards mainly reach shoppers with bank accounts or cards issued abroad. Google Pay is listed for online and in-app payments in Yemen, while Apple Pay is not on Apple’s list of supported countries.
What rules shape online payments in Yemen?
Two central bank authorities operate. The World Bank describes an economy split into two zones with competing institutions: the Central Bank of Yemen in Aden, in areas controlled by the Internationally Recognized Government (IRG), and the central bank in Sana’a, in areas controlled by the Houthi movement. Rules on currency and banking can differ between the two.
Exchange rates differ by area. On the Aden market the rial fell to a record low of 2,905 per US dollar in mid-July 2025. The IRG then revoked licences for money exchangers, set new limits on foreign exchange purchases for personal use and set up a committee to allocate hard currency to imports, and the rial rose to around 1,676 per dollar by early August. The World Bank reported in May 2026 that the rate in Aden had since stabilised. In Houthi-controlled areas, the rial has been held near a de facto fixed rate of around 540 per dollar through constrained money supply, administered official rates and oversight of exchange firms.
Banks are moving to Aden. The World Bank reports that banks and other institutions have continued to relocate their headquarters from Sana’a to Aden to avoid US sanctions, and that, according to the Central Bank in Aden, eight banks had done so. Merchants and their providers need to screen counterparties against the sanctions lists that apply to them.
How would Omno route payments in Yemen?
A merchant would connect once and set routing rules per method, currency and customer group. In Yemen:
- Mobile wallets such as ONE Cash and Jawali could be offered through providers that support them, with the order pending until the provider confirms the payment.
- Card pay-ins would be routed by BIN, so local and international cards each go to the provider set for them, with cascading to the next provider in the rule if one is unavailable or rejects the request.
- Customer group rules could send payments from different areas or currencies to the providers set up for them.
Webhooks would report the final status of every payment, and the routing-decision log would show which provider handled each payment and why.
What should merchants plan for?
Plan for mobile wallets. Only 4.2% of adults owned a debit card in 2022, while wallets such as ONE Cash and Jawali work without a bank account, so a card-only checkout reaches very few shoppers.
Plan for two exchange rates. The rial trades at very different rates in Aden and Sana’a, so decide how to price in rials for each customer group and how often to update prices.
Plan for compliance checks. Banks have relocated to avoid US sanctions, so check with your providers which sanctions rules apply before you accept payments from Yemen.