![Syrians pack bread at a bakery in the town of Binnish in the country's northwestern Idlib province on June 9, 2020 [OMAR HAJ KADOUR/AFP via Getty Images]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/GettyImages-1219050514-scaled-e1624360609131.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1)
Syria will cease government subsidies on basic goods for its richest citizens by the end of this year, according to regime officials.
In a press conference yesterday, Syria’s Internal Trade Minister, Amro Salem, stated that “there are segments of society that do not need subsidies … I mean those who have money.”
The ruling will exempt 800,000 of Syria’s richest citizens—typically high-earners working in the private sector – from government subsidies on items such as bread and fuel.
According to Salem and other officials, the removal of the subsidies from the richest will help to continue to provide relief to the poorest and ease the financial burden on the regime of Bashar Al-Assad.
Last year, the Syrian government issued a system of smart ration cards which provide subsidies to citizens purchasing basic and essential goods. It was set up as an effort to counter the severe shortages of goods, such as wheat and fuel, which hit the country, both in the regime-held and opposition-held territories.
The rationing system established by Damascus has also been especially strict on bakeries throughout regime territory, with bakers who violated the law by possessing extra flour having been arrested by the authorities.
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