World News | Syria's Pharmacies Syndicate Says Drug Prices to Increase 50 Per Cent as the Country's Pound Hits a New Low

Damascus (Syria), Aug 8 (AP) The Syrian government decided to increase prices of drugs by 50 per cent, the head of the pharmacies syndicate in Damascus said on Monday, as the Syrian pound hit new a low in recent days.

Hassan Derwan did not give a reason for the price hike in his interview with the pro-government daily Al-Watan. Earlier this year, prices were raised by between 50 per cent and 80 per cent.

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Syrian pharmaceutical companies mainly import raw materials in hard currencies which makes them susceptible to changes in the price of the Syrian pound.

Pharmaceutical companies have recently demanded to increase the price of their products to cope with the tumbling pound.

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Since Syria's conflict erupted 12 years ago — killing nearly half a million people and displacing about 6.8 million others — the country's currency has lost much of its value and now the vast majority of Syrians live in poverty.

Back in 2011, a dollar was valued at 47 pounds. Last week, the dollar was valued at about 13,000 pounds on the parallel market while the official rate stood at 9,900. At the start of the year, the dollar was worth about 7,000 pounds.

The minimum monthly wage in Syria is 130,000 pounds or about USD 12.

Syria's economy has been hard hit by the war, Western sanctions, widespread corruption and the historic economic meltdown in neighbouring Lebanon that started in October 2019. (AP)

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)