Damascus– The internal trade sector in Syria faces multiple challenges in light of the rapid economic and political changes, which affected the various sectors of the country’s economy after the fall of Bashar al -Assad on the eighth of last December.
The fluctuation of the exchange rate of the lira in front of foreign currencies, and the gap between its price in the central bank and its price in the parallel market at the forefront of these challenges, followed by paralysis of import movement against the background of the suspension of banks and banks issuing bank credits, in addition to the spread of foreign goods in the markets and their rivalry, high -price local goods.
Amid this commercial recession, the new Syrian administration seeks to control the scene through a set of measures, including unifying customs duties, reducing the state’s interference in the markets, and working to restructure the economic system.
Employment of profits
Traders and industrialists in the Damascus market and its countryside complain of their profits due to sharp fluctuations in the exchange rate of the lira during the past few weeks, and the weak import movement.
Jamal Hamad Turkman, the owner of a stone manufacturing factory in the Adra Industrial Zone in Damascus countryside, says that bank credits have been suspended since the eighth of last December, and therefore the import movement is also stopped.
And Turkmen adds, in an interview with Al -Jazeera Net, that the sudden decline at the dollar exchange rate recently had a negative impact on his trade, because his goods were mostly from the “imported stone” in dollars, which led to the erosion of its profits.
He points out that despite the high value of the lira, the prices of energy and workers’ wages are still fixed on the old price, adding: “I was paying the weekly wages for my workers in the quarry quarries of 500 dollars, but today I need twice this amount, not to mention the high electricity bills.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrlvyupmf6k
Added difficulties
Turkmen suffers from the identification of banks and banks the daily drawing ceiling in small amounts that are not enough to pay wages and cover production costs.
He says that he has assets in the commercial bank and the Islamic Bank, but the withdrawal is determined by a roof of 500 thousand pounds (approximately 39 dollars), so he can no longer pay the wages of all workers, which forced him to lay off 10 of them temporarily last week, adding that there is a possibility to pay bills Through bank transfers.
A source in the International Bank for Trade and Finance in Damascus told Al -Jazeera Net that banks are suspended from issuing banking credits and providing loans, and only working to run withdrawals and deposits.
The source – who declined to be named – added that the banks obtain cash from the central bank, but the central today follows the policy of liquidity imprisonment, and therefore the drawing ceiling is low, because it is linked to the available criticism.
The exchange rate fluctuation
As for the impact of the fluctuation of the exchange rate of the lira on his trade, Fadi Al -Amir, the owner of the Stone World Store in the Azbakeya area in Damascus, confirms that he has a great impact, saying: “A customer may come to me and ask 100 meters of stone, and give me a wedding, but until I finish the story of storytelling and preparation That needs 20 days, the exchange rate is different, and therefore the cost of the goods increased, but the customer pays me according to the agreed price, which may He offers me a loss. “
“Today we have to sell our goods with a loss after the spread of Turkish goods in the markets, which are cheaper than the national product, as the marble score in the store has a cost between 70 and 80 dollars, but today it is available in the market At $ 25. “
While a number of industrialists and merchants work in an unstable environment, and changing economic conditions amid a decline in their ability to compete against imported products, there are commercial sectors that were not directly affected by these changes.
“Our market is still tired, sales are almost suspended, and there is no financial surplus to bid him farewell in banks, and I am a distributed dealer I do not need bank credits,” Mahmoud Hashem, the owner of an agency for the sale of home electrical appliances, told Al -Jazeera Net.
He adds: “As for the exchange rate and its fluctuations, I buy my merchandise in dollars and put a simple profit margin for myself, and although we rely on the dollar pricing in the parallel market, this does not mean loss when selling in my case, because even if I get from the customer in the Syrian currency, I hurry to convert The amount of a foreign currency in a way that preserves its value in this currency. “
Hashem notes that the major companies in Syria are setting a protection ceiling for the price of their product in the Syrian currency, which guarantees a fixed profit in the event of any fluctuation at the currency exchange rate.
Many effects
Syrian economist Younis Al -Karim says that the suspension of banking credits and the difficulty of withdrawing liquidity from banks pushes merchants and industrialists in Syria to replace their own money (from foreign currencies or detained banks) in the market.
But the problem is that these funds are scored at a price of 40% less than the official bulletin, forcing merchants and industrialists to compensate for their losses by raising prices, which ultimately leads to the consumer charge these additional costs.
According to Karim, the absence of bank loans led to high costs, so traders usually get short -term loans from banks to buy commodities, which helps them reduce costs, but these loans have recently stopped forcing merchants to finance their operations from their own money or borrowing from each other Some, and the lack of loans means the inability of merchants and industrialists to buy goods directly, which leads to some factories or high prices.
The cream summarizes the effects of some banking services on internal trade in Syria in the following:
- Not allowing traders to withdraw their money, which impedes the payment of salaries and wages.
- The inability to pay the value of purchases, especially the internal purchases that deal with the Syrian pound, and this would hinder the continuation of their work.
- The inability to provide credit facilities for some traders due to lack of liquidity, which affects sales and purchases.
- Decreased confidence in the banking system, which causes merchants to keep their money outside the banks, which leads to a lack of liquidity in the banking system, and forces the government to print more money, which contributes to a decrease in the value of the currency.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mx_ynzQGEC
An unfair competition
The recently imported foreign goods, which are spread in the Syrian market, constitutes an added challenge to industrialists and merchants.
In this regard, the cream says that the presence of these goods in the Syrian market is normal because of “the inability of local production to cover the needs of the market. But the import operations were carried out in a way that harmed the economy.”
He adds: “These operations were accompanied by government statements that encourage the abandonment of the government sector, which means that the import takes place without support from state institutions or banks. The import focuses on luxury goods such as cars, which drained the dollar from the market and led to additional pressure on the economy “.
He explains that random import led to unfair competition for local industrialists, especially in the clothing sector, as customs duties are imposed on imported fabrics and ready -made clothes, making local production less competitive.
This led to traders refraining from importing the basic commodities that the market needs, because their profits are small and need great liquidity, so no one imports food products “given that there are no workers, there are no employees, and that the purchasing power is non -existent.”
