Syrian Center for Policy Research:

• The bulletin provides an independent assessment of consumer prices and inflation rates in all Syrian regions based on a monthly survey of consumer prices carried out by the Syrian Center for Policy Research (SCPR) since October 2020. The SCPR had developed a methodology for building a price index based on components of the consumer basket, weighting, and market selection (See SCPR’s Consumer Price Index in Syria)
• The inflation trajectory during the first months of 2025 was characterized by acute fluctuations, as the rate returned to rise in March and April following a sharp contraction witnessed in January and February. This continuous escalation led the Consumer Price Index (CPI) to reach a level of 745 (considering 2021 as the base year), and to record a Year on year (Y-o-Y) inflation rate of 15.7 per cent, confirming the return of inflation levels to those observed in mid-2024.
• Analytical data for Month on month (M-o-M) inflation in Syria for April 2025 indicates a substantial disparity among governorates, highlighting the direct impact of local factors on prices. Despite the general rise in consumer goods prices across all governorates, which ranged between 0.2 per cent and 6.8 per cent, Deir-Ezzor governorate recorded the highest monthly inflation rate at 6.8 per cent, followed by Ar-Raqqa and Rural Damascus governorates at 5.7 per cent each.
• Conversely, the index for the telecommunications sector witnessed a notable decrease of 11 per cent in April 2025. This decrease is mainly attributed to two concurrent factors: first, the reactivation of the MTN and Syriatel networks in Idleb governorate, coinciding with the cessation of Syriaphone company operations in the same governorate. This shift led to attracting customers towards Syriatel and MTN, which offer relatively competitive prices; the price per minute reached SYP 47 in March 2025, compared to SYP 161 for Syriaphone.
• The “Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages” group made the largest contribution to the monthly inflation for April 2025 (amounting to 2.6 per cent) with a contribution rate of 73.5 per cent, followed by the “Housing, Water, Electricity, and Gas” group at 21.9 per cent, then the “Tobacco” group at 10 per cent. This distribution illustrates that inflation in April 2025 was primarily driven by the food and beverages sector, which constitutes the largest part of the household consumption basket.
• The Syrian Pound (SYP) witnessed a depreciation in its value against the United States Dollar (USD) in the informal market, recording a decline of 6.5 per cent during April 2025 to settle at SYP 11,954 per USD, while the official rate remained fixed at SYP 12,060. The Central Bank continued to implement a liquidity restriction policy, where the maximum limit for cash withdrawals for depositors remained at SYP 1 million weekly, divided into two installments. It is worth noting that banks did not adhere to scheduling the repayment of dues to depositors who deposited large sums via the import platform before the fall of the regime, despite the issuance of a circular mandating their scheduling over six months. Furthermore, exchange and money transfer companies did not adhere to the official rate, but rather adopted the exchange rate in the parallel market when delivering remittances.
• Significant disparities exist in monthly wages at the sectoral level. The average monthly wage for a newly appointed university graduate in the public sector amounted to approximately SYP 649 thousand, whereas the average monthly wage for a worker in the private sector reached SYP 1.09 million. Civil sector employees recorded the highest average monthly wage at around SYP 2.4 million.
• On another note, a comparison of nominal wages across different zones of control revealed a substantial disparity. Wages in both public and private sectors in the TL-Governed Areas (TL-GA) (Idleb and Aleppo countryside) were the highest, followed by the Autonomous Administration (AA) areas, while wages in the SYP-Governed Areas (SYP-GA) ranked last. This reflects a significant variation in income levels among these three regions.
• Data related to poverty in April 2025 showed that the household abject poverty line, which reflects the food deprivation index, reached SYP 2.6 million monthly at the national level. The lower poverty line exceeded the barrier of SYP 4.11 million, while the upper poverty line reached SYP 5.68 million. These figures revealed a clear geographical disparity, as poverty lines recorded their highest values in the governorates of Damascus, Homs, and Rural Damascus, while they were lower in the governorates of As-Sweida, Deir-Ezzor, Lattakia, and Al-Hasakeh during the same period.
• Indicators of wage coverage for poverty lines clearly indicate that current wages for all employed persons in the public and private sectors are insufficient to cover basic household needs, highlighting the critical economic situation they are experiencing.

  Consumer Price Index and Monthly Inflation (M-o-M) in Syria during the period (April 2024 – April 2025), (base year 2021 = 100) and (inflation in percentages)

  

Categories: April, Bulletins, Monthly Bulletins, Monthly Bulletins 2025, Publication

Tags: Monthly Bulletin, SCPR, Syria