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QAMISHLI, Syria – Families are struggling to put food on the table in northeastern Syria as the price of basic goods goes out of their reach under a financial crisis that is gripping the country.
Hayat Hizni, 53, is a mother from Qamishli and is the family breadwinner. She can barely afford bones to make a broth for her children.
“It is hard to buy chicken all the time, even a box of 30 eggs costs over 5,000 SYP ($2.10). I have come to buy a few kilos of bones for us. We will add it to our food. We are poor and can’t afford it,” she said.
The United States in June slapped new sanctions on Syria, targeting the government of President Bashar al-Assad. The measures under the Caesar Act have driven down the value of the Syrian pound.
Traders selling meat and eggs in Qamishli, the capital of the self-administration of northeastern Syria known to Kurds as Rojava, have seen their business slashed by more than half during the financial crisis, according to official figures.
Rojava authorities in June raised salaries of public sector workers by 150% in a bid to make up for the falling value of the pound.
Reporting by Muhened Ibrahim
Translation and video editing by Sarkawt Mohammed
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