Gulf News
People take to social media to complain why ‘allies’ Iran and Russia are not bankrolling basic needs.
The caretaker government of Syria issued a controversial decree this week, raising the price of heating fuel, diesel and gasoline.
It took the pro-regime street by storm, completely unexpected during Ramadan.
Ordinary Syrians living in safe cities like Damascus and Homs, and soldiers fighting on the front lines have already been complaining from chronic water shortage, devaluation of the Syrian pound, and lack of electricity.
The recent decree makes life far more difficult for all of them, as it raises the price of diesel — used for heating and industry — from 135 SP to 160 SP/litre, and gasoline from 160 SP to 225 SP/litre.
Gas for home cooking has skyrocketed from 1800 SP to 2500 SP/bottle.
People are unhappy and furious, threatening to demonstrate at the gates of the newly inaugurated Syrian Parliament this week.
Some MPs are demanding revoking the decree, claiming that the current cabinet is constitutionally a caretaker one, since it ought to have resigned shortly after parliamentary elections took place last April.
Its legal position does not empower it to raise prices of anything in the Syrian market, they claim.
This defiance signals boiling and dangerous frustration within the pro-regime camp, as people sink into further misery and economic hardship because of the five years of war in Syria.
Their logo is: “A revolution of hunger will happen soon.” President Bashar Al Assad issued a decree hours later, hiking the salary of public sector employees by 7500 SP (approximately $15 or Dh55) to help combat the rising inflation and price of formerly subsidised items.
Many ordinary citizens are publicly asking, via Facebook and Twitter, why “our allies” in Tehran and Moscow are not providing money to bankroll and provide these very basic services to ordinary Syrians.
Prime Minister Wael Al Halaki, who is expected to leave office this month, said since assuming office in 2012, his cabinet had spent no less than 983 billion SP on subsidised items like fuel, bread, sugar, and gasoline.
This cannot continue because the government has no money anymore, bankrolling a huge war effort since 2011. All previous sources of revenue for Syrian officialdom have evaporated, like money from tourism, for example, or from the oil sector.
Public sector companies, which used to generate income, are now either out of service or bankrupt, because of the war, and taxes are uncollectable because so many towns and cities are up in flames.
The government is left with no other choice but reduce public spending on items like fuel, gasoline, and diesel.The Syrian government, for examples, used to subsidise diesel with 92 SP/litre from its coffers.
It costs 227 SP but sells at 135 SP — prompting many Syrians to buy it from the state and smuggle it out of the country to sell on the black market of Lebanon and Iraq, where its official price is much higher.
Home gas for cooking costs the government 2600 SP but sells for 1800 SP, subsidised with 852 SP by the Syrian Treasury.
The decision was shocking for many reasons, mainly because it added insult to injury to a population that is already hungry and poor.
Secondly, it was a surprise, coming after weeks of relative economic improvement due to stabilisation of the Syrian pound to the US dollar.
Shortly before the start of Ramadan in early June, the exchange rate soured from 500 SP to 670 SP to the US dollar, in a matter of days.
The government poured dollars into the Syrian market, to reduce their value and raise that of the Syrian currency, managing to restore the exchange rate to 500 SP to the US dollar. That price will likely skyrocket soon, as people will once again switch their money to dollars to make small profit, hoping that this will help combat the rising inflation and high prices of gasoline, diesel, and heating fuel.