Geneva The UN refugee agency says 230,000 Syrians have fled their homes since the outbreak of violence last year.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees' coordinator for Syria says 30,000 people have already fled to Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan and "on a daily basis hundreds of people are still crossing into neighbouring countries."

Panos Moumtzis told reporters in Geneva yesterday that according to the Syrian Arab Red Crescent at least 200,000 people are also displaced within the country.

He says some 110,000 mostly Iraqi refugees living in Syria are meanwhile reporting increased hardship due to rising prices for basic goods.

Moumtzis says prices for imported goods have "skyrocketed" because of the devaluation of the Syrian pound.

The UN refugee agency says 230,000 Syrians have fled their homes since the outbreak of violence last year.