With Ramadan entering, the Syrians are drowning between corona and high prices

Adnan Al-Hussein - Syrian-Turkish border

Ramadan this year does not seem like the previous months of it every year. The unprecedented price hikes are associated with the spread of the Corona pandemic and the subsequent closure of the crossings and the rise in the exchange of the dollar against the lira by 20% during the past month, which clearly increased the suffering of the Syrians in opposition-controlled areas Originally suffering from unemployment and compelling living conditions. 

With the advent of the month of Ramadan, foodstuffs and vegetables witnessed an increase that has multiplied to their normal price before the Corona crisis, as a result of the closure of the internal crossings linking the opposition-controlled areas and the areas controlled by the Syrian regime and the areas controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces. 

Record prices
The price of a kilogram of tomatoes rose, for example, by eight times what it was in the previous Ramadan, and reached about 850 Syrian pounds, as well as cucumbers, weeds, potatoes, and eggplant, even if it was in lesser proportions, but it exceeded twice as much. Record for a price exceeding two thousand pounds, and photos spread to buy one lemon, which the Syrians did not know previously. 

The rest of the items, such as fruit, increased by 50% to 100%, while the prices of meat and fish increased unevenly and exceeded what was common, increasing the burden of living for about five million Syrians residing in the north and northwest of Syria. 

Dr. Yasser Al-Hussein, a professor at the Faculty of Economics at the University of Al-Sham on the island, says that the standard of living per capita has deteriorated, as a result of many things, most notably the collapse of the value of the Syrian pound against other currencies, as the price of the dollar reached between 1250 and 1300 pounds per dollar, as well as the closure of crossings and the subsequent rise in prices Vegetables and food. 

Al-Hussein provides an example of unprecedented price hikes, as the price of a carton of infant formula coming from the areas controlled by the regime is 3500 liras (about five dollars), but today the price is six thousand liras, and he measured that medicine with all its varieties as it comes from the same place.  

Hussein points out that an important point is the opposition's loss of large areas estimated at three thousand square kilometers during the past months, represented by the cities of Saraqib, Maarat al-Numan, Khan Sheikhoun, the countryside of Hama and Idlib, and this was the strategic reservoir of vegetables and fruits for northern and central Syria. 

Monopoly
does not only appear the exchange rate of the collapsed lira is the most prominent reason for the high price, as the monopoly of the main materials such as oil, sugar and others is due to the control and control of merchants in most opposition areas over their trade in the absence of a clear supply control, which led to a significant increase in their prices. 

This was clearly evident after the closure of the crossings and the appearance of quantities of sugar sold three or four times the price, which is the most requested commodity there. 

Poverty before and after Corona
The Minister of Finance of the Syrian Provisional Government Abdel Hakim Al-Masri confirms that, according to statistics of local and non-governmental organizations, about 81% of Syrians live below the poverty line and 40% of them live below the extreme poverty line before the spread of Corona, but unemployment rose by a very large percentage after Corona In addition to the forced displacement of civilians from northeastern Syria. 

Al-Masry explains that despite the provision of aid by humanitarian organizations, the living situation was tragic and became more tragic after the collapse of the lira against the dollar, and the exchange of products stopped due to the closure of the crossings.

On the continuation of the Turkish crossings with the opposition areas, Al-Masry notes that the Turks have taken strict measures to prevent the transmission of the disease to the Syrian interior, in contrast to the areas of the regime that leaked information weeks ago about the intention of Iranian militias to introduce the virus into the opposition areas. 

The importance of the internal crossings
Despite the many risks to the opening of the internal crossings between the opposition areas and the areas of the regime and the Syrian Democratic Forces, it has the importance of being a source of many basic materials that come at cheaper prices than coming from Turkey, in addition to its contribution to exporting the surplus of the opposition regions from materials and vegetables in particular Fruit trees, olive oil, etc. 

Saeed Al-Ahmad, an official in the crossings administration in Idlib governorate, says that their closure has affected very much, because there is a large part of the needs of the liberated areas that were brought from areas that are today under the control of the regime, and not everything comes from Turkey, and the alternative that can be brought from Turkey is much more expensive. 

He adds that the local production of their regions is spent towards the regions of the system, since it cannot be disposed towards Turkey, and in the event that this commodity is not spent, merchants and farmers will lose a great loss and will not continue in agriculture or trade, and stopping them means that many of the workforce stops working.   

Regarding the products of the opposition regions, Al-Ahmad points out that many of its varieties, such as oil, wheat, poultry, vegetables and fruits, are in surplus quantities from the need of the local market, adding that the quantities exported to the system areas, 70% of which are local surplus.