Syria increase salaries amid collapse of Pound

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad issued a decree on Thursday to increase salaries for Syrian government workers and pensioners amid the collapse of the Syrian Pound. The order provides an increase of 20,000 Syrian Pounds (about $28) on the monthly salaries and wages of the military and civilian employees.

The decree also stipulates an increase of 16,000 Syrian Pounds (about $22) on the salaries of pensioners. The presidency’ official pages indicated that the salary increase came after a series of meetings, which started since the middle of this year between the specialised teams and competent government committees, to discuss all the available data. As such, the increase was activated following the ratification of the results of the Economic Committee and its submission to the Council of Ministers in its last meeting held on Sunday.

The average monthly salary in Syria ranges between 40,000 pounds ($55 ) and the average monthly salary for employees in Syria at the beginning of events in mid-March 2011 is about 20,000 pounds ($400). Since the beginning of this month, Syria has been witnessing a remarkable rise in the Dollar exchange rates, where the exchange rate of one dollar exceeded 725 Syrian Pounds, causing a significant increase in the price of all dietary and consumer goods.

Read: Over 29,000 children killed in Syria since 2011