DAMASCUS —
Syria’s internal commerce
ministry has announced a petrol price hike of around 130 percent in the
war-torn country facing fuel shortages and extended power cuts.
اضافة اعلان
The cost of a
liter of subsidized fuel will rise to 2,500 Syrian pounds, from 1,100
previously, a rise of 127 percent, the ministry said in a statement quoted by
the official SANA news agency late Saturday.
The cost of non-subsidized petrol will rise from
3,500 to 4,000 Syrian pounds, the ministry added.
The increases represent the third time this year
that authorities have increased the price of fuel, as the Syrian pound
continues to depreciate.
Syria’s currency is trading at around 4,250 to the
dollar on the black market, compared to an official rate of 2,814.
“This measure will hit everyone,” said Raed
Al-Saadi, a warehouse worker. “Our salary is now only enough to get us to the
workplace, and not even enough to get us home again.”
“Life has become very difficult and I don’t know
where this situation will lead us,” the 48-year-old added.
Since the outbreak of war in 2011, Syria’s oil and
gas sector has suffered losses amounting to tens of billions of dollars.
The economy has been hit hard by both the
long-running war and sanctions imposed against
Damascus.
A UN commission in March called for a review of
sanctions against the Syrian government because of concerns that the measures
were hitting ordinary people too hard.
The conflict in Syria started in 2011 with the
brutal repression of peaceful protests and escalated to pull in foreign powers
and global jihadists.
It has killed around 500,000 people and displaced
around half of the country’s pre-war population.
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