Saudi Arabia has said it plans to build a new regional airport in the Yemeni city of Marib, roughly 120 kilometres east of the capital Sanaa.

According to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA), the planned airport will facilitate transport links between Marib and its neighbouring provinces as well as “boost the local economy and create job opportunities”.

MEED understands tribes in Marib successfully resisted Houthi fighters in the ongoing civil war, which broke out in 2015, with help from the Saudi-led military coalition.

The planned new airport is the latest project initiated by Saudi Arabia in Yemen.

In January, Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud directed the transfer of $2bn to Yemen’s Central Bank in support of the country’s economy, which has been battered by the three-year civil war.

The fund transfer was made in response to Yemeni Prime Minister Ahmed bin Daghr’s public plea for funds to prop up the Yemeni currency, which had lost more than half of its value against the US dollar since the war broke out.

Yemen’s Central Bank has struggled to pay public sector salaries due to falling foreign exchange reserves.

Yemen’s government said it expects to register a $1.1bn deficit in 2018, the first year it has announced a budget since 2014, when the country descended into armed conflict.

The latest budget set total expected revenues in 2018 at YR978bn ($2.22bn), with YR1.46 trillion ($3.32bn) of spending.