Economic concerns are back to storm the lives of locals in Damascus despite witnessing short-lived stability for their country’s national currency exchange rate. Securing basic commodities is a growing challenge against the backdrop of skyrocketing prices and government negligence.
A first-class citizen’s average monthly wage is valued at a minuscule $80 with economists setting median expenditure for a five-member family at $800 per month.
The price tag on basic food staples saw a 10-fold increase, cutting back substantially on the quality of life in Syria.
A pre-war exchange rate of SYP50 for a dollar has been on an ongoing steep decline that logged in a staggering low of SYP600 per dollar rate in May 2016. On the other hand, recovery is being recorded at a slower pace-- up from an SYP434 per dollar rate in November 2017, the Syrian pounds trade at SYP440 for a dollar in July 2018.
Overall currency exchange rates for the Syrian pound in 2018 saw minor fluctuations, mostly trading within the range of SYP450-470 per US dollar.
However, national currency exchange rates recorded a mid-November drop coupled with a living cost hike that was met with the deafening silence of government officials.
Deteriorated exchange rates can be traced back to several reasons, including the Central Bank of Syria (CBS) September measures for pressuring currency exchangers to provide a full disclosure on the employment of foreign currency they obtained from the bank in 2012 at low rates, economists told Asharq Al Awsat.
The recent US dollar hike in global markets has also contributed to bringing the down Syrian pound’s value even lower—not to mention a public lack of confidence in the regime's economic policies also undercutting Syria’s national currency.
It is worth noting that the Syria regime balanced its 2019 public budget based on an average exchange rate of SYP435 per dollar.
Most Syrian families have lost their savings during the war, Damascus locals told Asharq Al Awsat.
“The cost of living has become unbearable,” a Syrian woman said, speaking under the condition of anonymity, while complaining that both her and her husband’s salaries combined are failing to make ends meet, despite living rent-free.
