Monthly Bulletin for Consumer Price Index and Inflation in Syria Issue (4) – April 2026
5 Minutes
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The April 2026 Consumer Price and Inflation Bulletin in Syria shows that inflationary pressures are no longer driven only by price movements in consumer goods, but have become more clearly linked to the restructuring of public utilities and services, and to attempts to finance the fiscal deficit through pricing and revenue-collection tools that are reflected in the cost of living and production. The Y-o-Y inflation rate reached 27.5 per cent, while the general CPI rose from 918 points (2021 base year) in March 2026 to 950 points in April 2026, recording M-o-M inflation of 3.5 per cent.
The data indicate that M-o-M inflation was concentrated more in services and non-tradable sectors than in food commodities. Education recorded the highest monthly increase at 6.3 per cent, followed by housing, water, electricity and gas at 6.0 per cent, and then household equipment and miscellaneous goods and services at 5.1 per cent each. Although food increased only slightly, by 0.4 per cent, housing and energy remained the main driver of inflation, contributing around 75.7 per cent of M-o-M inflation. This confirms that the main source of pressure in April was the cost of basic services and energy, rather than food alone.
April’s fiscal and monetary policies deepened this trend. The imposition of a tax advance on imports, the continued gap between the official and parallel exchange rates, and the requirement to deliver some remittances in SYP came within the context of the authorities’ efforts to strengthen revenues and control foreign-currency flows. However, these measures transfer part of the cost of fiscal and monetary adjustment to producers, importers and consumers through higher final costs, precautionary pricing, and constraints on operational liquidity.
The bulletin also reveals the continued spatial variation in prices. Housing, water, electricity and fuel recorded the highest coefficient of variation across governorates, followed by education and transport, indicating that local services and public utilities have become among the main sources of price disparity across governorates and monetary spaces. Lattakia recorded the highest M-o-M inflation rate at 6.9 per cent, followed by Aleppo at 5.5 per cent, Homs at 5.4 per cent, and Dara’a at 5.3 per cent.
At the living-conditions level, the abject poverty line for a household reached SYP 3.34 million per month, while the lower poverty line reached SYP 5.26 million, and the upper poverty line reached SYP 7.26 million. The wages of university-educated public-sector employees cover only 33.9 per cent of the abject poverty line and only 15.6 per cent of the upper poverty line, while private-sector wages cover 38.5 per cent of the abject poverty line.
The recent increases in fuel and bread prices are likely to generate a new inflationary wave in the coming months, potentially raising the upper poverty line to more than SYP 7.55 million per month. This indicates that the announced nominal wage increase, even once disbursed, will remain limited in impact unless it is linked to the cost of living and direct social protection policies.
Bulletins – Issue (4) – April 2026
Public Utility Restructuring and Service-Cost Surge
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Bulletins – Issue (4) – April 2026
Monthly Bulletin for Consumer Price Index and Inflation in Syria – Issue (4) – April 2026
5 Minutes
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The April 2026 Consumer Price and Inflation Bulletin in Syria shows that inflationary pressures are no longer driven only by price movements in consumer goods, but have become more clearly linked to the restructuring of public utilities and services, and to attempts to finance the fiscal deficit through pricing and revenue-collection tools that are reflected in the cost of living and production. The Y-o-Y inflation rate reached 27.5 per cent, while the general CPI rose from 918 points (2021 base year) in March 2026 to 950 points in April 2026, recording M-o-M inflation of 3.5 per cent.
The data indicate that M-o-M inflation was concentrated more in services and non-tradable sectors than in food commodities. Education recorded the highest monthly increase at 6.3 per cent, followed by housing, water, electricity and gas at 6.0 per cent, and then household equipment and miscellaneous goods and services at 5.1 per cent each. Although food increased only slightly, by 0.4 per cent, housing and energy remained the main driver of inflation, contributing around 75.7 per cent of M-o-M inflation. This confirms that the main source of pressure in April was the cost of basic services and energy, rather than food alone.
April’s fiscal and monetary policies deepened this trend. The imposition of a tax advance on imports, the continued gap between the official and parallel exchange rates, and the requirement to deliver some remittances in SYP came within the context of the authorities’ efforts to strengthen revenues and control foreign-currency flows. However, these measures transfer part of the cost of fiscal and monetary adjustment to producers, importers and consumers through higher final costs, precautionary pricing, and constraints on operational liquidity.
The bulletin also reveals the continued spatial variation in prices. Housing, water, electricity and fuel recorded the highest coefficient of variation across governorates, followed by education and transport, indicating that local services and public utilities have become among the main sources of price disparity across governorates and monetary spaces. Lattakia recorded the highest M-o-M inflation rate at 6.9 per cent, followed by Aleppo at 5.5 per cent, Homs at 5.4 per cent, and Dara’a at 5.3 per cent.
At the living-conditions level, the abject poverty line for a household reached SYP 3.34 million per month, while the lower poverty line reached SYP 5.26 million, and the upper poverty line reached SYP 7.26 million. The wages of university-educated public-sector employees cover only 33.9 per cent of the abject poverty line and only 15.6 per cent of the upper poverty line, while private-sector wages cover 38.5 per cent of the abject poverty line.
The recent increases in fuel and bread prices are likely to generate a new inflationary wave in the coming months, potentially raising the upper poverty line to more than SYP 7.55 million per month. This indicates that the announced nominal wage increase, even once disbursed, will remain limited in impact unless it is linked to the cost of living and direct social protection policies.
