The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has demanded a US$200M ransom from Japan for the lives of two Japanese hostages, a move that experts say show the group's financial desperation.

The caliphate might already be struggling as the black market oil revenues have been falling since last year. A video was released on Tuesday by the al-Furqan media arm of the ISIS that says they will kill the two hostages if the ransom will not be paid within a 72-hour time frame.

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The two Japanese hostages were identified as 42-year-old Haruna Yukawa, a military company operator, and 47-year-old journalist Kenji Goto. The two were seen in the video wearing orange jumpsuits, just like the other prisoners previously killed by the ISIS.

The militant who has asked for the ransom spoke in a British accent and experts are saying it might be the same man who also appeared in the other videos uploaded by the group.

The Japanese government has not yet revealed if they will be paying the ransom but Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said the lives of the hostages are their top priority and that they have vowed to save them. It is not yet clear when the video was shot but it came just days after Abe vowed to give US$200M to countries fighting ISIS.

According to experts, such a huge demand shows that the jihadist group has been having trouble not only getting access to more weapons but also in achieving their goal of controlling the whole Iraq and Syria although they have already seized three fourths of the regions. ISIS was once considered as the richest extremist group as they were able to amass US$800 million from the Iraqi central bank in Mosul.

According to Kyle Olson, the president of the Olson group in Virginia and a counter-terrorism expert, the ISIS has set the group to run a government and that only means to say that the group has to pay salaries for the people working for them and purchase medical supplies for their wounded militants. Also, they would have to pay for everything from weaponries down to the most basic supplies.

Despite the claims of the experts, ISIS leaders are saying that they still have a lot of money to spend for the maintenance of the territories they have seied. Experts are also saying that the ransom was unlikely for the ISIS if they really still have funds.

However, the experts also added that Japan is known for paying ransoms for hostages in the past.

TagsISIS, ransom, US$200 million, financial problem, Japanese hostages