Turkish lira devaluation affects markets and residents in Syria’s Idlib
IDLIB, Syria (North Press) – Recently, most types of vegetables, fruits and other basic materials have witnessed a price hike in areas in Idlib governorate and northwestern Syria in light of the ongoing devaluation of Turkish lira against the US dollar reaching its lowest level in its history.
On Friday, Turkish lira dropped to a new historic level, 16 TL against $1, according to Lira website.
In June 2020, Syria’s northwest region that are held by the Turkish-backed armed factions, adopted the Turkish lira as its own currency in a step to face the rapid devaluation of the Syrian currency.
The historic devaluation of the Turkish lira negatively affects the Syrian opposition-held areas, especially with widespread of unemployment, low wages, security tension, and the faction’s inability to provide job opportunities.
Soar prices
Residents of Idlib told North Press that prices of stuffs have doubled without exception, while wages are still the same, and merchants are selling at their whims without being held accountability or supervised in light of the chaos the region is witnessing.
Prices of vegetables, fruits and meat have witnessed a crazy rise, for example, the price of a kilo of tomatoes increased from 3 to 7 TL, Shamel al-Youssef, a resident of Sarmada city, north of Idlib, told North Press.
People are no more able to buy their basics, since each kilo of apple has raised from 4 to 8 LT, a kilo of bananas rose to 15 TL after it was 10, chicken meat reached 23 TL, and lamb is 80 TL, Al-Youssef pointed out
He said every merchant and every shop owner sells goods at his whim, and the prices varies several times per hour, under the pretext of the low exchange rate of the Turkish lira.
This is taking place in a time when the so-called supply control patrols are absent or deliberately absent to take their share.
Fuel price hikes
Few days ago Watad Petroleum Company run by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS, formerly al-Nusra Front) in Idlib city, posted on social media that it has switched prices for purchasing fuel to USD instead of the Turkish currency.
The decision to change the prices of fuel and gas from the Turkish lira to the US dollars was a fatal blow to Idlib residents, Wahid al-Khaled, an IDP of Hama countryside, residing in Idlib, told North Press.
He said the lack of small denominations coins of the dollar in Idlib forces residents to pay in the Turkish lira and at the daily exchange rate of the dollar, meaning that the price of a household gas cylinder reached about 190 Turkish liras, while its price was 165 liras a few days ago.
He stressed that such a decision serves the interests of only traders and companies, in addition to the Salvation Government and its company Watad, which deluded the residents that the decision was in their interest.
On November 15, dozens of people from Idlib, took to the streets protesting an unprecedented inflation and soar of fuel prices.
Since several days, the markets of northwest Syria have been experiencing a significant sluggishness with people only buying their basic needs, due to the record price hike that is no longer match with the citizen’s income.
Many shopkeepers, especially those that sell imported food, which are purchased in US dollars, have been forced to close their shops after they were subjected to significant losses due to successive changes in the Turkish lira each moment.