The revaluation of the dollar destroys the purchasing power of the citizens… And expatriate children save their families
Hassan Hussein
A severe economic crisis in Jazira region, like other Syrian cities, as an impact of the turmoil of the dollar’s exchange rate on the local market, accompanied by a sharp rise in food prices, which also came as a natural result of the revaluation of the dollar against the Syrian pound. While all reasons ceased in one box, which is the military operation against the cities of Sari Kani, Gire Sipi and their rural areas, and the mass displacement and fear from a Turkish occupation of other territories under The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria.
These sudden changes, which came at an unpredictable speed, led some of the traders to manipulate the prices according to an unchecked mood. And thus, the consumer (worker and employee) got lost between the traders’ greed once, and his need to acquire the product always.
“The revaluation of the dollar has a major impact on the markets movement in general, and on the citizen in particular; because the monthly income per capita is less than a hundred dollars, and goods’ prices are considerably more than the income, and all of this has an impact on the demand if we compare it to the level of supply, which is always more” Says (Radwan Badran) from Qamishlo, interviewed by (Shar) magazine in one of the city’s markets.
Badran believes that raising the price of the goods by the traders, coinciding with the revaluation of the dollar against the Syrian pound is “unfair”, and he confirms, “If the dollar revalued two hundred pounds, the trader begins raising the prices of his goods fivefold the old price, and all that in the absence of inspection, and consumer protection committees.”
The effects of the devaluation of the Syrian pound against foreign currencies, cased a wide shadow on the employees before the workers and the self-employed, since the government employee, as well as, the Autonomous Administration’s employees receive a salary about one hundred dollars or less, which is a monthly income that is not enough to feed a family of five persons, such as the family of (Khalil Muhammad), a government employee, lives on a salary that does not exceed 60,000 Syrian pounds, which is approximately $80.
He says: “this amount is not enough for me to secure the needs of my family which consists of of five people, so I had to work after working hours, to meet the needs of my family, if the matter stopped at the foodstuffs, I would have found solutions by my salary and additional work, but if there is a patient at home, I need two additional salaries to pay the doctors, the medical labs, and the price of the medicines”.
Expatriate children are a lifeline for their families
The low monthly income for most of the families, if not all of them, made it impossible for families to secure necessities, including clothing, food and drink, let alone sudden or chronic illness conditions. But for many low-income people, the migration of their children seems to be a lifeline.
“Despite the harshness of emigration, but my son’s migration was a rescue for me and the rest of my family members who stayed here, (Saeed) the eldest, is an immigrant in Germany, and send me each month about two hundred euros. This amount with my salary is enough to secure the needs of the house without the need for anyone” says (Riyad Salim) from Qamishlo.
On the other hand, the twenty-year-old (Sozdar Ali) immigrant in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, who is a originally from Al-Hasakah, is proud of helping his family in their distress caused by the high prices. He says: “I get a salary of $ 800 a month, the employer provides me with food and a place to stay in, so $300 a month are enough for me, and the rest I send it to my unemployed father.”
(Montaser Hassan), an employee at a currency exchange office in Qamishlo city says: “The foreign currency exchange (dollar- euro) increases at the beginning of every month, and this has become known to everyone. Everyone who has a family member abroad, helps his family with money as much as possible, which helped the people to overcome a part of their distress”.
Securing medicines before thinking about food
Fears of losing different types of medicines due to the revaluation of the Syrian pounds against the dollar stay constantly with the owners of medicine warehouses in Qamishlo. This border city with Turkey hosts more than twenty depots distributing pharmacy supplies in various cities of the Jazira region. “All the factories in Damascus reduced the rebates and announced their refusal to deal with the Syrian currency, because of the difference in the exchange rate,” says (Omar Valet), the owner of ‘Valet’ medicine warehouse.
And he asserts: “Air freight from Damascus to Qamishlo was cancelled. As for road freight, its wages are high and they deduct fourteen percent of the bill value, after it was charging ten percent.”
Road freight offices justify that increase, according to (Omar Valet), “as the Syrian regime’s check point in Aleppo imposes taxes in dollars, not in Syrian currency. They collect from each freight vehicle ten thousand dollars, which is equivalent to about eight million Syrian pounds, after it was imposing on each vehicle four million Syrian pounds”.
The owner of (Falit) medicine warehouse expects the worst to happen in the absence of effective solutions to the problem of road transport or air freight. “The price of medicines will increase very indiscriminately, and according to expectations, types of drugs will be lost by 80-90% in the Jazira region, and currently there is a shortage of medicines, especially medicines for chronic diseases” he confirms during his interview with (Shar).
The dilemma of turmoil of the foreign currencies’ exchange rate against the Syrian pound, has become the preoccupation for every Syrian family, and each individual analyses the reasons according to his vision. However, the specialists still have the right opinion on which many possibilities may be built.
The economist, Dr. Shawqi Muhammad, tells (Shar): “As long as the production wheel is idle, the productive system in the country is unable to provide the small portion of the necessities for living, the budget deficit is increasing year after year, inflation levels are constantly increasing, and incomes are reducing month after another; the citizen will continue to suffer under the weight of prices and the inability to secure the necessities of his daily life”.
He adds: «The problems facing the responsible economic bodies, that are unable to fulfil the roles assigned to them, could bring about fundamental changes in the economic life in the country, or affect the main variables in the national economy”.