The Syrian government has raised the prices of bread and diesel to more than double their previous values, a move that may lead to an increase in the prices of most food, agricultural, industrial, and transportation materials. The Syrian news agency (SANA) published a decision detailing the adjustment of the price of a liter of diesel to 500 Syrian pounds, up from 180 Syrian pounds, thereby more than doubling the price. The government decision also included raising the price of a bread bundle (one kilogram) to 200 Syrian pounds, up from 100 Syrian pounds. This decision will take effect starting this Sunday morning.
Syrian economic sources attributed the doubling of the bread price to the increase in the price of one kilogram of wheat, which is being purchased from farmers at about 900 Syrian pounds, in addition to the increase in the prices of 15 other materials used in the production of bread. The sources stated to the German news agency (dpa) that "the Syrian government subsidizes bread several times compared to the selling price to the citizen, while the cost of one kilogram of bread is more than 1065 Syrian pounds."
Regarding the reason for raising the price of a liter of diesel, the sources attributed this decision to the blockade imposed on Syria and the control of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), backed by the United States, over oil production areas in northern and eastern Syria, where the country suffers from severe shortages of oil products. The Syrian government had announced last Tuesday the raise of the price of a liter of 95-octane gasoline to three thousand Syrian pounds, approximately one US dollar, an increase of 500 Syrian pounds.
