Professor at University of Damascus says government has to leave
DAMASCUS, Syria (North Press) – Dr. Shafeq Arbash, a professor at the Faculty of Economics of Damascus University, said on Thursday that the Syrian government needs to leave if it is unable to control the prices and imply laws and fight against corruption.
Dr. Arbash initiated a scathing attack against the Syrian government in a statement for semi-official al-Watan Newspaper, discussing reasons behind the high prices.
Arbash believed that the decision taken by the government regarding raising the prices of energy has contributed into the raise of manufacturing costs, causing prices to go up. This also raised prices in the black market.
He added that the government “does not have a crystal clear vision, does not have a work plan, and all its decisions are reactions rather than actions.”
Arbash called upon the government to leave if it believes merchants more powerful than itself.
Arbash said that the decree No. 8, issued in 2021, does not apply to big merchants, but rather targets small dealers. The government’s barging about the number of violations during its inspections is just an “evidence of weakness.”
The professor noted that corruption prompted some decision makers to ally with those merchants caused prices to raise and led to loss of staples, in addition to not knowing the mechanism by which prices are determined.