Siege and Corruption in Collusion with Syrians

Damascus | In the last two days, Syrians have been concerned about the decision to raise the price of a package of bread by 100%, in order to pass a decision that is almost more onerous for them, which is to reduce the weight of a package from 1300 grams to 1100 grams. Before that, the Supply Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Trade and Consumer Protection, according to the complaints of many citizens, was absent from monitoring the theft of flour and reducing the weight of the package by most bakeries, since the package it was always sold in a clear deficiency of the specific ministerial number: 1,300 grams. Today, with the official weight reduction to 1100 grams, ovens will not be deterred from applying a further reduction, and this is what happened immediately after the implementation of the decision.

Following the statement by the Ministry of Internal Trade and Consumer Protection, which attributed the price adjustment of subsidized flour and bread to “the difficult conditions and the blockade imposed on Syria by the United States and its partners and the difficulties caused in supplying basic materials to the Syrian citizen, “Finance Minister Kinan Yaghi announced yesterday. The People’s Assembly, that “the subsidy for food flour increased to 700 billion Syrian pounds in the next budget, after 337 billion Syrian pounds in the current year’s budget.” Yaghi explained that “the reasons for the increase in the supply deficit of flour include the high purchase price of wheat delivered to farmers, the high exchange rate of the dollar at the central bank of 435 Syrian pounds to 1,250 Syrian pounds, in addition to the high cost of producing yeast at the yeast factory in Homs. ”
However, it seems that the causes of the bread crisis go beyond what was announced by the government; Al-Akhbar learned from well-informed sources that one of the problems encountered in obtaining flour was the delay in transporting the wheat crop available from Hasaka governorate in northeastern Syria to the rest of the cities. , which caused the destruction of at least half of the stocks. This is what sources describe as “deliberate sabotage so that the crops could be sold as fodder wheat for half the price”, accusing “a circle of corrupt employees and individuals, who depart from Hasaka and go to the Ministry of Internal Trade and Consumer Protection in Damascus “. For its part, another informed source told Al-Akhbar about “the existence of a great waste of grains in the Qamishli branch, whose quantity is estimated in thousands of tons of wheat, due to negligence and poor shipping operations”, attributing the matter to “neglect of branch leadership and internal control, so the wheat remains until the moment is scattered on the ground in warehouses and on the roads that connect them. They are also preparing to sell them as I think, which will constitute an additional loss ”.
On the other hand, the mills of Damascus and its field had been subjected to maintenance that cost enormous sums to the public treasury, but the paradox is that the production capacity fell – with the end of the maintenance operations – to more than the half, from 2,600 tons to 1,200 tons, raising questions about whether the maintenance was False. However, “the problem is not confined to Damascus or the eastern regions,” as informed sources say, as “Aleppo’s private mills, for example, are exchanging subsidized wheat for poor-quality smuggled wheat, which explains their capacity to grind a ton of wheat to an amount of 4,000 Syrian pounds, given that the cost of milling exceeds the amount of 7,000 Syrian pounds, ”according to the same sources.

Subscribe to «News» on YouTube here