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Bread has become the only item many Syrians can afford, although they sometimes queue for six hours to get two “packs” due to the acute shortage of bread supported by the Bashar al-Assad regime.
A report on the US radio website WAMAU broadcasts scenes of Syrians’ daily suffering for bread in a country where 9.3 million people are food insecure, according to United Nations figures.
The cost of the food basket, which includes staples such as rice and oil, has risen 247 percent since last October, while the Syrian pound has lost more than 70 percent of its value against the dollar.
In addition to the shortage of medicine and fuel, the shortage of bread has doubled the suffering of Syrians, after Syrian authorities doubled the price of a subsidized package of bread to 100 pounds, while reducing its weight.
The report says that the economic crisis afflicting Lebanon has also had an impact on Syria, as at a time when Damascus is experiencing its own crisis, Syrian funds in Lebanese banks have been frozen.
In the face of government bakeries, the bread trade flourished on the black market, with the report quoting a Syrian activist as saying that the profit margin of selling bread in government bakeries is small compared to selling it on the black market, as it can be sold for more than ten times the subsidized price.
The activist, who requested anonymity, added that some government bakeries sell their bread rations on the black market in order to pay the salaries of their employees.
Bread is now sold in Syria through the so-called “smart card”, according to the “slice” system in bakeries in Damascus and its rural areas.
According to the new bread distribution mechanism, a family consisting of one or two people receives a package of bread and a family of three or four people receives two ties.
As for a family of five or six people, they get three ties, and seven or more people get four ties, and one tie contains seven loaves.
The report indicated that the war caused income inequality among regime loyalists who had easy access to goods, while ordinary citizens had to wait hours for bread and sometimes even after hours of waiting, They said there was no bread and they had to return the next day.
Faced with high prices, the Syrian government began selling some staples about three months ago, the prices of which are supported by the “smart card” system.
After nine years of war, Syria is experiencing a suffocating economic crisis, recently exacerbated by measures to address the Covid-19 epidemic.
