Assad issued the two decrees shortly before midnight on Tuesday after the value of the Syrian pound against the US dollar fell to a new record low, from 7,000 in early 2023 to 15,000 pounds per greenback. At the start of the conflict in 2011, the dollar was trading at 47 pounds.
For more than a year, Damascus has been restructuring its subsidy program for gasoline, diesel for heating and bread. At the launch of the restructuring plan in February last year, Syrian Prime Minister Hussein Arnous said the decision to reduce fuel subsidies would allow the program to target the poorest families more effectively, as well as reduce the Syrian state deficit.
Although wheat and bread subsidies have not been affected, the move has sparked isolated protests across the country as families struggle to cope with high inflation. Syria raised fuel prices on Wednesday, shortly after Assad issued his decrees, further reducing state subsidies.
“The national economy is in a clear state of instability, especially due to the rapid rise in the exchange rate,” Arnous told the Syrian parliament in a speech last month, warning that debt financing of public spending and central bank lending is not sustainable.
The last salary increase in Syria occurred in December 2021, when Assad raised the salaries of civil servants by 30%.
The wage increase could be an immediate relief for Syrians, but it would be temporary as the country’s economic situation continues to worsen, Sam Heller, a researcher at New York think tank Century International, told The Associated Press.
“It is likely to fuel England and therefore worsen the continued depreciation of the Syrian currency,” Heller explained.
FOUNTAIN: Associated Press
