Syrian consumers feel pressure as diesel price triples and cost of bread doubles

Bread and diesel prices increased sharply in government-held parts of Syria yesterday.

Damascus raised fuel prices to pay for fighting the country’s decade-long civil war, a situation compounded by sanctions imposed by western countries.

The price of diesel was nearly tripled and the price of bread doubled, the official Sana news agency reported, days after the government announced a 25 per cent rise in the price of petrol.

“This was all expected and now we fear further increases in the price of food and medicine,” Damascus resident Wael Hammoud, 41, told AFP.

The provision of basic services and staple goods has been curtailed by the war, which began in 2011 with repression of protests by the government of President Bashar Al Assad.

Turkey has tried to plug the resources gap in rebel-held north-western Syria, building flour mills and supplying power. It has done so alongside extremist groups it trained and funded.

The price rises coincided with a decree issued by Mr Al Assad that increased public sector salaries by 50 per cent and set the minimum wage at 71,515 Syrian pounds ($28) a month, up from 47,000 Syrian pounds.

In a second decree, public sector and military pensions were increased by 40 per cent.

A price list published by Sana on Saturday night showed that a litre of diesel would cost 500 Syrian pounds, up from 180.

The price of subsidised bread doubled to 200 Syrian pounds. The state-run Syrian Foundation for Bakeries said the rising price of diesel contributed to the increase, Sana reported.

Diesel in Syria is used to power vehicles and private generators that run for up to 20 hours a day in some areas to supplement a power grid hampered by fuel shortages.

Production costs in the agriculture and industrial sectors also rose, pro-government newspaper Al Watan reported.

The cost of heating homes will be increased by 178 per cent, it said.