Syria\u2019s internal commerce ministry has announced a petrol price hike of around 130 percent in the war-torn country facing fuel shortages and extended power cuts.<\/P>
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The cost of a litre of subsidised fuel will rise to 2,500 Syrian pounds, from 1,100 previously, a rise of 127 percent, the ministry said in a statement quoted by the official SANA news agency late Saturday.<\/P>
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The cost of non-subsidised petrol will rise from 3,500 to 4,000 Syrian pounds, the ministry added.<\/P>
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The increases represent the third time this year that authorities have increased the price of fuel, as the Syrian pound continues to depreciate.<\/P>
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Syria\u2019s currency is trading at around 4,250 to the dollar on the black market, compared to an official rate of 2,814.<\/P>
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\u201cThis measure will hit everyone,\u201d said Raed al-Saadi, a warehouse worker. \u201cOur salary is now only enough to get us to the workplace, and not even enough to get us home again.\u201d<\/P>
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\u201cLife has become very difficult and I don\u2019t where this situation will lead us,\u201d the 48-year-old added.<\/P>
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Since the outbreak of war in 2011, Syria\u2019s oil and gas sector has suffered losses amounting to tens of billions of dollars.<\/P>
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The economy has been hit hard by both the long-running war and sanctions imposed against Damascus.<\/P>
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A UN commission in March called for a review of sanctions against President Bashar al-Assad\u2019s regime because of concerns that the measures were hitting ordinary people too hard.<\/P>
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The conflict in Syria started in 2011 with the brutal repression of peaceful protests and escalated to pull in foreign powers and global jihadists.<\/P>
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It has killed around 500,000 people and displaced around half of the country\u2019s pre-war population.<\/P>
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Source: National News Agency – Lebanon<\/P>
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Syria\u2019s internal commerce ministry has announced a petrol price hike of around 130 percent in the war-torn country facing fuel shortages and extended power cuts.The cost of a litre of subsidised fuel will rise to 2,500 Syrian pounds, from 1,100 previou…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1782,3],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n