Despite rising poverty in areas under the control of the Syrian government and the coronavirus pandemic, the regime has insisted on delivering subsidized bread using a “smart card.”
Citizens considered this decision an act of treason because it crosses the “red lines” that the ruling Baath Party itself had put, at a time when experts consider the move a first step toward removing the subsidy on bread similar to other commodities.
After people queued outside bakeries in Damascus at the start of the war, the phenomenon is back and is getting worse as the government takes precautionary measures to contain the spread of the virus. This was accompanied by bakeries announcing that they would no longer operate during unusual hours, an indication of a shortage in flour supplies from the government.
A rejection and calls
These government hints were met with rejection on social media platforms and included calls for President Bashar Assad to intervene and halt the new move after the failed and bitter experience of acquiring gas, fuel and other main food supplies such as sugar, rice, vegetable oil and tea using the “smart card”.
Although the regime had announced that each family is entitled to one gas tank every 23 days, many families confirm that they have not received one for 75 days. Many household providers spend an entire day in front of government institutions to receive sugar, rice, vegetable oil and tea, and may not even get them the same day. If they do, they may not receive all of them.
Treason
Loay is a citizen who like many others was following what Internal Trade and Consumer Protection Minister Atef Naddaf was going to say. He told Asharq Al-Awsat, “Aren't a war, inflation, poverty and the coronavirus enough? The government has betrayed the people and has started to fight them with a loaf of bread, a primary and indispensable material”.
A margin for manipulation
Noteworthy in al-Naddaf’s speech is his announcement that “each commissioner is entitled to 10% of the amount to deliver to families and people who do not own a “smart card” after his name and national number are registered”! This could allow agents to largely manipulate what happens to this amount.
Without mentioning how many of them are available, al-Naddaf talked about “increasing the number of electronic car readers in bakeries,” amid information that Damascus would need 1,000 devices while only 100 are available. This will lead to large crowds in front of areas that do have the card reader, knowing that each device costs more than 450,000 Syrian pounds.
Prices higher than the rest of the world
An economic expert who spoke with Asharq Al-Awsat and preferred to remain anonymous, indicated that “there is a chance that the decision could be preparatory to ending the subsidy on bread altogether.”
He pointed out that “similar scenarios had happened with other subsidized commodities such as gas, oil and fuel, where they were rationed and then their prices spiked to become higher than in the international market. A kilogram of sugar in the international markets is less than 20 US cents, equivalent to 220 Syrian pounds, whereas in Syria it currently costs 600 pounds!”
Before 2011, Syria used to produce millions of tons of wheat every year and could export 1.5 million tons. An international report estimated that the production of wheat last year was only around 1.2 million tons, the lowest number in 29 years, while some sources indicate that it had only received 500,000 tons and that production may drop even further in 2020.
