Damascus: Syrians from all walks of life are struggling to make ends meet — suffering double the financial burden because the price of everything increases in Ramadan.
At the local butcher in Al Midan, outside the walls of the Old City, people are buying by ounce, explains Um Mohammad, a local housewife, “My son, we cannot afford to buy anything by kilo anymore” she says, adding that the little amount of meat she just bought was for a big banquet — a visit by her son’s in-laws on the second day of Ramadan.
“As for me and my daughters, on the first day, our iftar is soup and potato salad.”
Um Mohammad, a widow, adds: “Even that is expensive and costs no less than 4,000 Syrian pounds ($7) per meal. I don’t have any income except the retirement pension of my husband, which is 25,000 Syrian pounds ($50) per month. It’s less than what the janitor makes. This is how the state rewarded my husband after 35 years of loyal and hard work in the government sector. We are hungry — and the state is responsible. They just blame everything on the war. If they really cared about us, they would force merchants to reduce their prices in Ramadan. The price of every commodity has increased by at least 25 per cent and the month has not started yet!”
Najwa Abdul Wahed, a housewife and former schoolteacher from Al Qaboon, said that chaotic pricing is most visibly felt in neighbourhoods that are either in the countryside, or close to it.
“In at least three places in southern Damascus, there is no regulating authority on prices and many basic commodities are unavailable. Prices increase because of the merchants and because it costs more to ship and distribute goods nowadays, because of the checkpoints. Everybody just doubles the price, citing checkpoints and high cost of production because of electricity shortages. Who pays the price? The ordinary people of Syria! The big shots don’t feel the pain — they don’t care if prices increase threefold or tenfold. They are making millions from this war. If they cannot stop it and cannot bring back our destroyed homes, the least they can do is restore some kind of decency to our lives — if not around the year, then just in Ramadan.”
