Complete closure of shops, accusations of monopolism in Syria’s Aleppo

ALEPPO, Syria (North Press) –  Northern Aleppo witnessed an almost complete closure of shops scattered in the districts of Halab al-Jadida, al-Hamdania and Jebb al-Qobba, in addition to closing most markets in other neighborhoods on Monday amid accusations of traders monopolizing the goods.

This comes with the collapse of the Syrian pound against the US dollar, which caused wholesalers to refrain from selling goods to retailers. In Aleppo today, the dollar exchange rate exceeded 3,200 Syrian pounds.

Some open shops in a number of neighborhoods suffered from lack and loss of some foodstuffs. Basil Ghazal, a shop owner in the Ashrafiya neighborhood, said that the reason he closed his shop was not to monopolize the goods, but "to reduce my loss as a result of constant price hikes," he said.

He pointed out that for two days, the goods’ price did not settle in order to be able to compensate for his loss, and he added: "The sale process has become a loss because we sell the product at one price, and after an hour we are surprised that the price becomes the price that we have without profit."

Mamdouh Sabouh, a trader, said that he refrained from selling because of the instability of the exchange rate, which was fixed at the price before the rise, because the companies deal in dollars and not in Syrian pounds. “I lost a lot of profit as a result of this rise because the Central Bank does not support us in dollars. "

The Central Bank of Syria issued a circular in which the dollar exchange rate was set at 700 Syrian pounds on Monday, while it exceeded 3,200 Syrian pounds on the black market.