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The Living Expenses in July 2021: 1.5 Million per Month
The living expenses of a family of five in Damascus have increased in mid-2021 to reach 1240 thousand Syrian pounds. That is according to Kassioun’s index based on 8 basic needs: food, housing, transportation, healthcare, clothing, education, household furniture, telecommunication, in addition to a proportion of 8% for other emergency needs.
The increase during the last 3 months has nearly reached 17.5%, which was led, of course, by the increase in food prices that constitute most of the living expenses of Syrian families.
Food: +40%
Basic food costs for a family have increased by 40% from the level of early April 2021; from 550k Syrian pounds per family per month to reach 776k Syrian pounds. The increase included all components; bread, meat, dairy, eggs, vegetables, and fruits, while completely imported foodstuffs have maintained their prices at a fixed rate until now, such as, rice, sugar, and oils. However, the highest increase is in bread, vegetables and fruits, due to the increase that happened in the prices of bread and diesel oil, which increased the costs of transporting local fruits and vegetables to a large extent.
Housing: +10%
Housing costs did not only increase as a result of the increase of average rents in Damascus and its suburbs, but also as a result of the increase in heating costs if the family wanted to fill 200 liters of diesel oil, in addition to the costs of household LPG and the costs of home maintenance.
Transportation: +138%
Transportation costs have recorded the highest increase by 138%; from an average of 42k Syrian pounds to reach more than 100k Syrian pounds a month. Transportation costs are calculated on the basis of the daily movement of 3 people by bus, and the emergencies of taking a shared cab for each of them one time a week, in addition to the costs of the transportation of one member a month from one governorate to another.
Healthcare: +13%
The costs of healthcare also witnessed an increase during the last 3 months by more than 13%, and that was after the increase in the prices of medicine and the increase in the cost of the prescription of chronic diseases for diabetes and high blood pressure for one person only, from 16k Syrian pounds per month to about 26.8k Syrian pounds. In total, the costs of healthcare for a family have increased from 38k Syrian pounds per month to reach 43k Syrian pounds.
Relative Stability in other Costs
Other basic costs have not increased at the same amount, and remained fixed at 30k Syrian pounds for education, 23k Syrian Pounds for clothing, 11k Syrian pounds for telecommunication and 40k Syrian pounds a month for household furniture. In addition to these costs, 8% for emergency needs of approximately 99k Syrian pounds, bringing the total monthly costs to 1240k Syrian pounds; about 1.5 million per month; $400 per month, while the minimum wage has become 72k Syrian pounds; what is equivalent to $24, which covers less than 6% of the costs.
