Excluding cars from subsidy will reduce its prices: Expert

(Eqtsad)- Syrian economist Abed Fadhliya said  the government’s decision to exclude anyone who owns a car with an engine capacity of 1500cc and the date of manufacture 2008 or above will have an adverse effect on car prices.

in a statement to the pro-regime Al-Watan newspaper, Fadhliya said the impact of the decision on car owners who frequently travel within the provinces will be greater than its impact on those who travel when necessary, pointing out that the effect is temporary and may continue until fuel prices drop below the current price.

Regarding the impact of the decision on the prices of cars manufactured from 2008 and less, and the possibility of their prices increasing as a result of not being excluded from the subsidy, Fadhliya stated that their prices are supposed to decrease and not rise because if gasoline approaches its normal price in the future, the one who buys this type of car will pay repair costs. Any one of these cars equals the difference in gasoline he will pay for a year.

Concerning the movement of selling cars in general during the current period, Fadhliya stressed that the movement of buying and selling is currently slow, and there is anticipation on the part of people for what will happen to the situation.

The collapse of Syria's currency has compounded the crisis. Worth about 50 to the United States dollar before the war, the Syrian pound traded in the hundreds per dollar in recent years, but began plummeting last fall in connection with a financial crisis in neighboring Lebanon, where many Syrians kept their money, according to the New York Times.

 

The International Rescue Committee says Syrians are enduring the worst economic crisis since the war began, with record levels of food insecurity and rapidly rising prices of basic goods. At the same time, water shortages in northern Syria are creating drought-like conditions for millions and jeopardizing already compromised health, water and other systems. 

 

Syria’s conflict began in March 2011 and has killed nearly half a million people and displaced half the country’s pre-war population of 23 million.