More than a quarter of Syrians live in extreme poverty, according to what the World Bank reported, 13 years after a devastating conflict, which led to successive economic crises and left millions of residents unable to secure their basic needs.
The World Bank, which published two reports on Syria yesterday evening, Friday, said, “More than a decade of conflict has led to a significant deterioration in the well-being of Syrian families,” noting that 27% of Syrians, or about 5.7 million people, live in extreme poverty.
He added, “Although extreme poverty did not actually exist before the outbreak of the conflict, it affected more than one in every 4 Syrians in 2022, and its severity may have increased due to the devastating effects of the earthquake in February 2023,” which killed about 6,000 people throughout Syria.
Previous United Nations estimates reported that two million Syrians live in extreme poverty after a decade of war, while the majority of Syrians live below the poverty line.
The World Bank cited several external reasons that contributed to the recent “decline in the well-being of Syrian families,” including the financial crisis that has been ravaging neighboring Lebanon since 2019, where many Syrians deposit their money, in addition to the repercussions of both the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russian war on Ukraine.
He warned that “the continued lack of funding and limited humanitarian aid” to the country has led to “an increased depletion of families’ ability to secure their basic needs amid rising prices, a decline in basic services, and an increase in unemployment rates.”
Since 2011, Syria has witnessed an armed conflict that has caused the deaths of more than half a million people, caused widespread destruction to infrastructure and depleted the economy and its capabilities. More than half of the population was also displaced and displaced inside and outside the country.
The response plan for humanitarian needs in Syria for the year 2024 received only 6% of the required funds, estimated at more than $4 billion, according to the United Nations.
At the invitation of the European Union, the eighth edition of the Brussels Conference on “Supporting the Future of Syria and the Region” will be held next Monday, in order to mobilize humanitarian efforts to respond to the Syrian crisis.
A large number of Syrians have become dependent, according to the World Bank, on financial transfers from abroad, which have become “a very important lifeline,” estimating their total value in 2022 at about $1.05 billion, at a time when the value of Syria’s gross domestic product in 2023 is estimated at about 6.2 billion. dollar.
The World Bank expected – with “real GDP exposed to an unprecedented state of uncertainty” – that it would “shrink by 1.5% in 2024, in addition to a decline of 1.2% in 2023.”
He also expected that “inflation will remain high in 2024 due to the effects of the depreciation of the currency, as well as the continuing deficit in foreign currency balances, and the possibility of a further reduction in food and fuel subsidies.”
