We need to talk about cost of living

Victory celebrations and the rhetoric of regime change no longer stir much feeling among Syrians. After a full year of triumphalist speeches and recycled slogans, people are exhausted. The language of victory has become background noise, repeating itself without touching daily life in any meaningful way. Once the initial euphoria faded, Syrians were left facing a blunt, unavoidable question: what has actually changed for us? Where are the promised rewards of victory? Where is the improvement in living standards, the guarantee of economic dignity?

Today, most Syrians are relieved that the Assad regime is gone, and with it the dreaded mukhabarat and Sednaya Prison. What they are looking for now is not more anthems in public squares, but affordable bread, decent healthcare, reliable electricity, and a job that spares them the humiliation of asking for help. Victory, in the popular imagination, is in large part measured by whether a household can meet its basic needs without fear of tomorrow.

Against the backdrop of runaway inflation, attempts by some economic commentators to paint a rosy picture of living conditions ring hollow. Yes, salaries have risen nominally – from around 300,000 Syrian pounds (roughly $25) to about 1.2 million pounds (around $100). But this increase exists largely on paper, quickly swallowed by an unprecedented surge in prices.

Citizens are told their wages have improved. They respond with simple arithmetic. A standard bundle of bread that cost 400 Syrian pounds under the previous regime now costs 4,000. A family needing two bundles a day once spent about 24,000 pounds a month; today, the bill is closer to 240,000. A gas cylinder for household cooking has jumped from 18,000 pounds to around 125,000. Transport fares have tripled. In real terms, the additional million pounds in monthly income does not compensate for inflation at all. To keep pace with prices, a household would need more than three million pounds a month (roughly $250).

Over the same period, some food items have risen tenfold. Vegetables, meat, dairy products, transport, electricity and communications have all followed the same upward path. Under these conditions, salary increases lose their meaning.

The widening gap between wages and prices has turned official talk of “improved living standards” into a subject of bitter street humour. A public employee who once struggled to cover half a month’s expenses now finds himself unable to meet the needs of even one week. With no effective policies to regulate the market, the citizen remains the weakest link. 

The problem is not just the numbers, but the economic philosophy guiding this phase. Raising wages without tackling the root causes of inflation only fuels further price increases. Experts agree that Syria’s economy suffers from deep structural problems: collapsing productive sectors, weak investment, and the absence of an attractive business environment.

Many Syrians also feel that government priorities remain far removed from their own. While events are organised and victory narratives dominate public discourse, pressure on poor and middle-income families who make up the overwhelming majority continues to intensify. Resentment is growing as celebratory rhetoric persists while securing one’s daily bread becomes a struggle.

Young people now face a reality no less harsh than before. Unemployment remains high, opportunities scarce, and private-sector wages fail to keep up with living costs. Unsurprisingly, the dream of emigration has returned with force, as many young Syrians see departure as their only chance of individual survival in the absence of clear economic prospects.

Perhaps the most dangerous feature of the current moment is the erosion of trust between citizens and official economic decision-making. A lack of transparency, weak communication with the public, and a tendency to justify crises rather than acknowledge them, have only deepened the divide between people and policymakers.

What does the Syrian citizen need today? A school to educate their children, reliable services such as water, electricity and gas, a monthly income that covers basic needs, and a sense of security for themselves and their families. Those engaged in public life need all of this too, along with a reasonable legal guarantee of freedom of expression on economic, social and political issues, and being free from physical or psychological intimidation. Has any of this truly been achieved one year after the fall of the old regime?

In the end, Syrians are no longer interested in the story of victory as much as in its results. True victory, in their eyes, requires economic security. Between a daily reality that grows harsher by the month and an official discourse still trapped in triumphalism, Syrians wait patiently for bold policies.