Faisal Abbas 
Hatem Al -Muhammad, the government employee, is trying to walk quickly within the Bab Al -Jabiya market in Damascus, as he can no longer absorb the high cost of his purchasing power. Hatem told Al -Arabi Al -Jadeed: “We manage the family a day by day, as children desire food and they are fasting.” The income of the fiftieth man during the same month does not exceed 400 thousand Syrian pounds, equivalent to 42 USD, and he is barely sufficient for ten days of his home expense, despite his legalization and his failure to buy many of his family’s needs, and delete all that is called luxuries, and only one category of food on breakfast daily. In light of the poverty rate in Syria exceeded 90% and the increase in the number of food insecurity to nearly half of the population, according to United Nations estimates, the markets movement witnessed a decline in purchase during the first week of Ramadan, despite the great availability of goods. However, the lack of financial liquidity among most Syrians made them follow the policy of austerity and stretch of the stomachs, so major Ramadan dishes came out of the taboles of the fasting people, and turned into “poor tables” amid difficult economic and living conditions, due to the high prices of most food and consumer goods.
Anonymous food items
Mona Al -Ashqar, a mathematics school, is trying to secure the needs of her family from the stalls, which are now spreading in all places. Mona tells Al -Arabi Al -Jadeed: “The stalls have spread to the sale of foodstuffs significantly and randomly inside the city’s streets, where their owners sell foodstuffs such as canned, cheese, and biscuits at cheap prices compared to the Syrian goods whose prices have risen with the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan.” “These goods received a great turnout in the early days, and although most of these goods are unknown and carry writings in unknown languages, the Syrian citizen went to it because they are cheap, due to his weak financial ability.”
Weak movement
Prices increased during the first week of Ramadan by more than 30%, and sweets prices increased by more than 60%. As for the dates, it went out of the fasting tables of the high price, as the price of a kilo of good quality reached about 80 thousand pounds. The head of the Consumer Protection Association in Damascus, Abdel Aziz Muakali, stressed in a statement to “Al -Arabi Al -Jadeed” that the movement of buying and selling in the markets during the month of Ramadan is weak, and that the simplest cooking costs about 100 thousand Syrian pounds, equivalent to 10 dollars, noting that most Syrians buy their breakfast requirements in small quantities, “a pill of every type”, in an attempt to pass the month of fasting.
He also pointed out that the imprisonment of liquidity in banks and the inability of citizens to withdraw their money from banks greatly affected the market economy. Muhani added that the problem of the Syrians lies in the lack of proportionality of their monthly income with the high cost of vegetables and fruits, which increased the suffering of citizens in securing their daily needs and losing their purchasing power, despite the availability of various types of food and symbolic commodities in the markets.
The price liberalization
In turn, Mohamed Othman, an official in the media office of the Ministry of Internal Trade and Consumer Protection, confirmed to “Al -Arabi Al -Jadeed” that the ministry is monitoring markets through catering patrols in various governorates. These patrols focus on controlling basic commodity prices, ensuring their availability, and preventing monopoly, in addition to withdrawing food and non -nutritional samples to analyze them and ensure that they match standard specifications. The Ministry stresses the importance of announcing and adopting prices, and monitoring the quality of the products offered in the markets.
According to Othman, actual and realistic studies are being prepared for the prices of locally produced materials and imported daily, by studying markets daily to ensure products reach consumers at reasonable prices. He explained that “foodstuffs are largely available in the markets, and there are no losses or monopoly of any commodity, despite the circumstances that the country witnessed in the last period, and the ministry seeks to liberalize the market to ensure the best price for the citizen.” The same spokesman pointed out that the Syrian markets witnessed an influx of imported goods after reducing restrictions on customs recognition, which led to the availability of a variety of products in the markets, and contributed to enhancing the availability of materials and meeting the needs of consumers.
Othman concluded his speech by saying: “After the decision to arrest the Syrian Trade Corporation, the Ministry is working on the occasion of Ramadan to open festivals in all governorates to display large quantities of food commodities at cost prices, while providing discounts of up to 30% on some materials, with the aim of meeting the needs of citizens at studied prices during the holy month.”
