Cost-of-living crisis tests patience of Syrians two years after fall of Assad

Protests erupted across squares and streets in Syria last month after the government raised fuel prices again, with people burning tyres, blocking roads and chanting slogans. It was the largest show of discontent since President Ahmed al-Sharaa came to power two years ago. Many of those taking to the streets said they still supported the authorities but felt abandoned economically. One man told Syrian television he could no longer afford to buy bread, while another said: "Honestly, we have begun to fear what kind of new decision each morning will bring." A protester addressing the president directly complained that money was being spent on new roundabouts while living costs soared. Days later, amid calls for further demonstrations, the fuel price increase was revoked. The reversal did little to ease a broader cost-of-living crisis. For many Syrians, financial life has deteriorated since rebels led by Sharaa ousted President Bashar al-Assad, ending five decades of his family's rule and more than 13 years of devastating civil war. Since taking power, the government has slashed long-held subsidies as part of an austerity drive. The price of bread, a Syrian staple, has increased tenfold, fuel prices are now in line with the international average, and electricity costs have risen several hundred per cent for some households. Public sector wages and pensions have been adjusted, but the extra pay has been eroded by continuing price rises. In a suburb of Damascus, 50-year-old cleaner Fatima Saleh Eid described how her family's diet had shrunk. "We eat more sparingly now. We can't afford chicken anymore nor meat," she said at an open-air market. Her husband recently found work at a ceramic factory after a year unemployed, and she is among the luckier households; in some streets, men gather daily hoping for casual work that often never comes. Others nearby told similar stories: an elderly man who had stopped eating meat, a young man whose family could no longer pay for his father's heart medication, and a young woman who said she and her four children could afford a proper meal only every two days. Marwan Bashour, a 68-year-old pensioner, receives about $90 a month, the public sector minimum wage. "It's not enough at all," he said, describing how he borrows money or sells household items, even furniture, to get by. The United Nations Development Programme said 90 per cent of Syrians were living in poverty last year. Aid organisations, once a lifeline for people like Marwan, have cut back services because of funding shortfalls. Syria has also felt the effects of the US-Iran war, with the government citing pressure on energy markets from the conflict as a partial justification for the fuel price rise. Another pensioner, 63-year-old Nabil al-Remhein, said none of his four adult children could find work and his family now eats one meal a day. At home in a poor district of narrow alleys, his wife does her chores in the dark because he fears the electricity bill. The family switches off the fridge for about five hours a day, yet the latest bill amounts to roughly a third of their income, and it has gone unpaid. Dr Haid Haid, a Syrian columnist and consulting fellow at the London-based think tank Chatham House, said a significant portion of the population was worse off than before Assad's fall, calling the economic crisis one of the most dangerous issues facing the government and noting that some of it was of its own making. He attributed part of the problem to a lack of financial resources and the legacy of the former regime, but also to new policies moving Syria towards a liberal, free-market economy that do not take into account the impact on people. A spokesman for the Syrian economy and industry ministry said no one was available for an interview. The government has recorded some important gains. Sanctions imposed during the Assad era have been lifted, the United States has removed Syria from its list of state sponsors of terrorism, and the country feels more stable despite persistent security concerns. Sharaa has continued to consolidate power, retaking the resource-rich north-east from a Kurdish-led militia earlier this year, though Druze groups still control areas in the south where they seek autonomy, and Israel occupies parts of the south-west. Yet real economic recovery remains elusive. Large parts of Syria lie in ruins after a war that killed half a million people and displaced half the population, and many families unable to afford rent live in partially destroyed buildings. The World Bank estimates reconstruction costs at $216bn, a sum that cannot be met without foreign help and investment. Samir Aita, a Syrian economist who heads the Paris-based Circle of Arab Economists, blamed a combination of policies with a failure to manage expectations, and warned: "It's unsustainable. If they don't change, I fear chaos." Exhausted after years of conflict, Syrians remain hopeful with little alternative. As cab driver Abu Mahmoud put it: "They inherited the country bankrupt, so people need to be patient. Things don't happen overnight."