(Zaman Al Wasl)- Syrian President Bashar Assad replaced Monday the internal trade minister as the country's economic crisis worsens with prices of consumer goods increasing and the local currency reaching record lows.
Syria’s economy has been ravaged by nine years of war and western sanctions.
The presidential decree said Homs provincial governor Talal Barrazi will replace Atef Naddaf as Minister of Internal Trade and Consumer Protection. The decree gave no further details other than saying that Barrazi is no longer governor of Homs, Syria’s largest province.
The Syrian pound plummeted to unprecedented levels in recent days reaching 1,485 pounds to the dollar on the black market compared with 47 to the dollar when the conflict began in March 2011.
That sent prices of basic goods soaring and was followed by restrictions imposed to prevent the spread of the coronavirus that limited movement and trade.
Eight out of 10 Syrians live below the poverty line, making less than $100 a month, according to the United Nations.
International sanctions against the Syrian regime, damage to the country’s industry from the fighting, and panicked Syrians’ sending their money abroad pushed the currency down sharply during the conflict.
Dealers said although the pound briefly hit a 660 to the dollar benchmark in 2016, this was the first time it has hovered around near these record low levels for days.
The pound had enjoyed almost two years of relative stability after Moscow alongside Iranian-backed militias turned the tide in favor of Assad by pushing rebels from large swathes of territory in western and eastern Syria, according to Reuters.
The pound had traded at 47 to the dollar before protests against the Assad regime erupted in March 2011.
Syria’s Oil and Mineral Resources Ministry announced Sunday a reduction in automobile fuel subsidies in another measure to tackle the deepening economic crisis.
Al-Assad warned last week of a "catastrophe" if the easing of lockdown measures against coronavirus is mishandled.
Assad said Syria was in a "transitional phase" from the lockdown but warned of grave economic challenges that would outlast confinement.
Syria is in the thick of a grinding economic crisis that has seen its pound hit record lows against the dollar, while inflation has soared, plunging most of the population into poverty.
"In tandem with the health challenge, the other challenge during the coronavirus pandemic and even before is the economic challenge," Assad said.
With the pandemic, "citizens from different segments of society have been forced to choose between hunger and poverty... or illness".
(With Agencies)
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