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Days before the start of Ramadan, lines of people snaked down the stairs outside a bank in Syria\u2019s capital, Damascus, waiting for hours to withdraw the equivalent of about $15 for the requisite holiday shopping.<\/p>\n
The new government has imposed severe daily withdrawal limits of about that amount at Syrian banks, dampening what would usually be a festive time as many struggle to buy even the basics for the holy fasting month.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat can buy maybe a kilo and a half of meat,\u201d said Sleiman Dawoud, a 56-year-old civil engineer among those waiting in the A.T.M. line to withdraw that $15 \u2014 200,000 in Syrian pounds. \u201cBut what about the bread, and vegetables and fruits? Ramadan is coming, and we need to spend.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ra\u2019if Ghnaim, 75, a retired civil servant, fretted about how he would afford the tradition of giving children small amounts of money at the end of Ramadan as he waited to take out some cash.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cHow are we going to celebrate and give gifts to the children?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
This year, Ramadan falls three months after the ouster of the Assad dictatorship that ruled Syria with an iron first for more than five decades. The rebel coalition that has taken over the government in Damascus has instituted several economic changes.<\/p>\n
It opened the market to imported products. It eliminated bread subsidies \u2014 making the staple food 10 times more expensive. It laid off thousands of public-sector employees. And it capped cash withdrawals at A.T.M.s.<\/p>\n
The prices of many goods other than bread have fallen since the new government took over, but many Syrians still can\u2019t buy them because of the withdrawal limits in a cash-based economy where the widespread use of credit cards and e-payments has never taken hold.<\/p>\n
Getting cash out has become a part-time job of sorts as Syrians spend hours or even days trying to withdraw enough cash to live, much less splurge during a time of large family gatherings and feasts.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
As Syrian pounds have dried up and the government has started shifting economic policy, the currency has begun to strengthen after more than a decade of weakening.<\/p>\n
Before the Syrian civil war began in 2011, the exchange rate was about 50 Syrian pounds to the U.S. dollar. When the government was overthrown in December, it was about 15,000, but has since fallen.<\/p>\n
The Syrian Central Bank, Economy Ministry and Interior Ministry did not respond to questions.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
The Central Bank alluded to the withdrawal limits in a December statement, saying the measures would be temporary. But they have now lasted for months.<\/p>\n
This month, a planeload of newly minted Syrian pounds arrived from Russia, where they are printed, according to the state news media. The amount was not made public.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cThey indeed do not have enough bank notes. They have a liquidity crisis,\u201d said Karam Shaar, a political economist and senior fellow at the New Lines Institute, a Washington-based think tank, who has been meeting with Syrian officials.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe current monetary policy that the Central Bank is considering is not finalized, and it doesn\u2019t seem to be coherent\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
More than 90 percent of Syrians live in poverty, and one in four is unemployed, according to the United Nations. And on the ground, and in long bank lines across the country, many are suffering.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll have to cancel the suhoor,\u201d Mahmoud Embarak, a 60-year-old retired military officer, said of the pre-dawn meal that Muslims eat before the start of the daily fast.<\/p>\n
He said that the new government had recently cut his pension and that his family was now living off his wife\u2019s nursing pension.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cIt won\u2019t be as happy of a time as it has been in the past,\u201d Mr. Embarak added.<\/p>\n
Ahlam Kasem, 45, cringed at the mention of Ramadan.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
She was waiting in the bank line to withdraw 200,000 Syrian pounds (about $15) from her monthly salary of 380,000 (about $28) as a civil engineer with the agriculture ministry.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey told us the government doesn\u2019t have any money, the Central Bank doesn\u2019t have, the banks don\u2019t have,\u201d she said. \u201cWe have so many questions and there are no answers.\u201d<\/p>\n
So, along with her husband, she took a minibus from their town of Saboora, about 10 miles away, and paid 10,000 Syrian pounds each to get to an A.T.M. at the Damascus bank.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
She will have to make another trip on another day to withdraw the rest of her salary.<\/p>\n
That still won\u2019t buy much for her family of five \u2014 much less for the large gatherings to break the fast characteristic of Ramadan.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere won\u2019t be dinner parties or anything\u201d said Ms. Kasem, who is among the many civil servants who have been laid off with a severance of three months\u2019 salary.<\/p>\n
As she spoke, a man rapped on the bank\u2019s metal door, trying to get the attention of an employee inside. No one came.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have now gotten to point in Syria where even a cup of coffee may be too much of a hardship for someone to offer you,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019re a very social people, but we\u2019ve gotten to the point where we don\u2019t want to visit anyone so as not to put any pressure on them for even a cup of coffee, much less lunch or dinner.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Those concerns were top of mind at the Bab Sraijeh market, a bustling cluster of shops and street vendors along a cobblestone street in the old city of Damascus. The sound of motorcycles driving through occasionally drowned out the competing offers that sellers were yelling out.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cTen, ten, practically free,\u201d a young man hollered repeatedly, offering a kilogram of olives for 10,000 pounds, less than one dollar.<\/p>\n
At a small shop selling Ramadan decorations \u2014 wooden crescent moons, colorful lanterns and string lights \u2014 it was mostly quiet. Occasionally, someone would inquire about the price of an ornament and then walk off without buying anything.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople don\u2019t have money,\u201d said Nour al-Hamwi, 37, who was helping her husband at the shop. \u201cThe banks don\u2019t have money, Syria doesn\u2019t have money.\u201d<\/p>\n
Last year, the items were flying off the shelves, her husband said. Now, people are buying only necessities.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cThe Ramadan atmosphere will be weaker this year,\u201d Anwar Hamid said.<\/p>\n
Fatima Hussain Ali, 56, and her husband, Ha\u2019il Ali Jasser, 59, were each carrying several stuffed grocery bags of spices, cheese and flour as they made their way through the market.<\/p>\n
The staples of Ramadan \u2014 olive leaves, oil, rice, bulgur wheat \u2014 are cheaper than before the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad. But the couple, who have eight children, were still buying much less than in previous Ramadans.<\/p>\n
\u201cPrices are cheaper, but there isn\u2019t money,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Except for bread, which has gone from 400 pounds to 4,000 pounds.<\/p>\n
She doubted they would host any dinner parties this year. If they did, she joked, they might have to ask their guests to B.Y.O.B.: bring your own bread.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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