Workers at a restaurant in the temporary Yemeni capital, Aden, said that a meal for four, consisting of a roasted chicken and a side of rice and vegetables, was selling for 5,000 rials ($9 dollars). The good news does not end here, but businesses predicted that these prices are set to drop 30 percent if the currency continued to recover and if business owners lowered their prices. Prices in Yemen had skyrocketed in recent months, with a meager meal of beans selling for $29 at one point. In the al-Mansoura market in Yemen, Khaled bin Abdullah, a vegetable vendor, said that the prices in the temporary capital had improved slightly after other vegetable and fruit sellers had lowered the prices of their products, especially the imported ones. He told Asharq Al-Awsat: “A drop is being witnessed, even though it is not good enough.” Despite the less than satisfactory improvement in the economic situation, he said that a greater number of customers were buying fruits and vegetables. “At one point, one kilogram of apples cost 2,000 rials and now it stands at 1,300,” he added. The drop in prices is credited to legitimate government efforts over the past few weeks. It is also credited to the Saudi deposit in the Central Bank. Prior to these efforts, the dollar traded at 800 rials and prices rose to more than 300 percent in some instances, prompting public outcry. Last week, the dollar traded at 530 to 550 rials on the black market and exchange offices. The Central Bank later adjusted the figure to 520 rials to the dollar. Despite this slight improvement, the people believed that market prices still do not reflect the currency recovery. Some goods, such as wheat, rice, oil and dairy, witnessed a 10 to 15 percent drop in prices, but they still have not returned to their original prices before the collapse of the rial. A youth, Mohammed Mahmoud, told Asharq Al-Awsat: “We are monitoring the government’s efforts and hope to witness tangible results.” “We are waiting to see whether it will strictly monitor the black market traders,” he added. Moreover, he said that as the rial collapsed, vendors demanded that transactions, whether in dollars or rials, be carried out in hard currencies. They have now, however, returned to using rials. He hoped that the exchange rate would be fixed and that prices would improve. A supermarket owner in Aden, Abdulrahman Shehab acknowledged that he was still selling his products at higher prices, explaining that he had purchased them when costs were still high. “We communicated with wholesale traders and they pledged that they will resolve this issue,” he revealed. Yemenis believe that successfully controlling the drop in prices can only be possible amid strict auditing by the concerned state agencies. The only way those exploiting the crisis can be contained is through the state imposing the rule of law, said one local.