Enab Baladi – Zeinab Dawwa

Many Syrians are increasingly turning to their savings in dollars, gold, or liquidating assets like cars and homes to meet essential expenses such as food, medicine, and family necessities, coinciding with the spread of unemployment and many losing their sources of income.

According to data released by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), nine out of ten people in Syria live in poverty, and one in four is unemployed.

The programme added that three out of four people depend on humanitarian aid and need support for essential areas such as health, education, income poverty, unemployment, food insecurity, water, sanitation, energy, and housing.

Due to poverty and need

The fluctuation in the income of Syrian citizens today has pushed several families to sell their household furniture, as stated by Umm Ahmad, a woman in her forties residing in the Tadamon neighborhood of Damascus. She shared pictures of her home’s furniture at low prices on a group dedicated to selling used items.

The furniture included a ground gas stove, a wooden bed for one of her children, and a semi-automatic washing machine, expressing her sadness for taking this step; however, poor financial conditions, poverty, and her husband’s job loss drove her to do so.

Umm Ahmad used to work in a private company in the cleaning department, but due to the company’s policy of downsizing, she lost her job, and she is a mother of four children.

Economist Mohammed al-Salloum warned that when the crisis reaches the point of selling household furniture, it reflects a loss of hope for economic improvement, as people sell anything they can just to survive. This is a dangerous sign indicating that society is entering a phase of extreme poverty.

According to al-Salloum, this situation leads to social repercussions such as family disintegration, rising crime, and increased reliance on assistance and high-interest loans, creating a vicious cycle of poverty and debt.

Currency exchange

The lack of job opportunities has forced underprivileged families to cash in their savings while economic inflation rates soar, amid the fluctuating value of the Syrian pound against the dollar and other foreign currencies.

Zena, a university student who worked in a private company earning a salary of 250 dollars, helped her family of five with 100 of it, as there are two young children among them, while the other 100 went to buy necessities, as she told Enab Baladi.

She used to save 25 or 50 dollars each month as she could. However, with the regime’s collapse, the company’s owners decided to close it, forcing her to sell what she saved over two years due to the need to pay rent, while her father’s salary in the private sector was also halved.

For his part, Khaled, a resident of Idlib province, said he found work in Damascus after two months of unemployment.

Khaled managed to save 800 dollars from his previous job, but due to moving to Damascus and needing to secure housing and support his family in Idlib, he had to cash in 500 of it so far.

Savings turned into a means of survival

Economist al-Salloum believes that the current situation reflects a dangerous economic and social disintegration state, as savings and properties have become the only means of survival instead of being a guarantee for the future.

He noted that this phenomenon usually arises in inflationary recession environments, where prices rise sharply while families’ purchasing power erodes, pushing individuals to liquidate assets such as gold, foreign currencies, land, and even homes to cover essential expenses like food, education, and healthcare.

The researcher pointed out that the crisis has no longer been limited to the poor but has extended to the middle class, which relied on its savings as a financial safety net. As these savings continue to be depleted, the middle class is gradually shrinking, leading to rising rates of extreme poverty.

Future’s security sold for a pittance

Many Syrians have resorted to selling their jewelry to secure a living, especially employees who have become unemployed after their companies shut down, while the affluent buy gold due to its low price.

Umm Yazan, a woman residing in the Mazzeh 86 neighborhood, told Enab Baladi that she sold “everything she had” from her gold jewelry, including two 18-carat bracelets and her wedding ring, and bought a fake ring (Russian gold) after her husband was laid off from his private-sector job.

During Enab Baladi‘s observations of such cases, a taxi owner offered his two-room house and salon in Sheikh Saad in Mazzeh in hopes of securing a travel opportunity.

Ali Mustafa, a public sector employee, told Enab Baladi that before the regime collapsed, he bought a used Daewoo car for 110 million pounds and used it in the Yalla Go service. After the regime’s fall, car prices dropped significantly, and due to his need for money, he sold it for 50 million.

Economist Mohammed al-Salloum believes that savings are the last line of defense against crises, and selling them today means losing any chance to face future challenges.

He added that the major problem lies in the fact that those who are selling their savings today will not be able to compensate for them, making them more vulnerable to any upcoming crisis.

When saving becomes fuel for survival

In normal circumstances, savings are used to achieve dreams like buying a house, starting a business, or securing children’s futures, but in today’s Syrian economy, selling these dreams has become the only means of survival.

Researcher al-Salloum explained that this phenomenon leads to catastrophic long-term consequences, most notably:

• The erosion of the middle class and rising poverty rates, as families no longer possess a financial safety net, making them more prone to slip into extreme poverty during any new crisis.
• Rising prices due to increased demand for basic goods, exacerbating the problem and forcing citizens to sell more assets, thus creating a vicious cycle of economic collapse.
• The absence of any financial source for emergencies once savings are exhausted, leaving families incapable of dealing with sudden crises such as unemployment or illness.
• Homelessness and lack of housing stability, as some families resort to selling their homes to secure a living.
• Weakened chances of economic recovery, as selling productive assets like land or shops eliminates any potential for returning to economic activity in the future.

Proposed solutions

The solution begins, according to the researcher, with gradually unifying the exchange rate, increasing liquidity in a measured way, stimulating production, and enhancing transparency in the currency exchange market.

Allowing these conditions to persist without serious governmental interventions will lead to further economic and social deterioration, according to al-Salloum, necessitating urgent action to save what remains of citizens’ financial security and restructure the economy in a way that supports production instead of the consumption based on liquidating assets.