مواضيع ومقالات حول #Syrian Economic Crisis

Since Assad fled – nearly six months ago – we have, through Kassioun, repeatedly said: US sanctions will not be lifted anytime soon, and let’s work to relaunch the Syrian economy, whether the sanctions are lifted or not, while continuing to demand lifting them.

The trend of decline and retreat among Western powers in general, and the US in particular, is rapidly growing at all levels: economic, political, military, and cultural. This is something that Kassioun has repeatedly emphasized, proactively, over the past 25 years. It has now become a tangible reality, the effects of which are constantly being revealed. Its major impacts, in the historical sense, are still only a few steps away, and have significantly affected and will continue to affect our Syrian situation.

Syria is enduring a series of complex and intertwined crises, the complexity of which increases with each additional day of delay in beginning a comprehensive solution. Perhaps the most significant of these crises are the following:

The “National Dialogue Conference” held last Tuesday, February 25, 2025, concluded with a final statement that included 18 items, which addressed some of the most fundamental issues that occupy the Syrian street. With the issuance of the statement and the end of the meeting, which was limited to two days, one day for introductions and one day for working, it is possible to provide an overall assessment of the experience. Perhaps might be useful to organize the evaluation by listing the basic pros and cons, then go to the conclusions.

Topics such as civil peace, arms control, transitional justice, preparations for the national conference, the transitional government, political pluralism, democracy, the required constitution, and foreign relations of the new Syria occupy an important space in public debate among politicians, intellectuals, and the media. They are all, without a doubt, important topics for Syria’s present and future, and preoccupy all Syrians. However, they do not constitute, at this moment, the greatest obsession and concern for the overwhelming majority of Syrians.

With the end of the first quarter of 2023, and since before the beginning of the month of Ramadan, Syrians have directly witnessed significant increases in the prices of various necessary basic commodities. The average cost of living for a Syrian family of 5 has increased according to Kassioun index for the costs of living to jump to more than 5.6 million Syrian pounds (the minimum has reached 3,546,083 Syrian pounds). All this is happening while the minimum of wages (92,970 Syrian pounds, i.e., less than $13 a month) is still very meager and insufficient to actually cover anything from the b…