Regional price monitoring and market functionality key findings:
• In March 2023, the regional SMEB was recorded to be 1144,322 SYP (154 USD), which represents a +16 % increase for the SYP price since January 2023. The regional SMEB Food Component was recorded to be 840,005 SYP (113 USD), which represents an increase of +19% for the SYP price since January 2023.
• The informal USD/SYP exchange rate was recorded to be 7,450 SYP, which represents a +15% change since January 2023. The informal USD/TRY exchange rate was recorded to be 19.18 TRY, which represents a +1% change since January 2023.
• 57% of surveyed vendors reported only accepting TRY in their shop, -8 percentage point change (‘ppc’) since January 2023.
• Surveyed vendors were asked if items were available or unavailable in their community/neighborhood. Manually refined petrol (49% unavailability, -8 ppc since January 2023) and manually refined kerosene (71% unavailability, -1 ppc since January 2023) were reported to be widely unavailable across NWS. Bread, flour, and all other SMEB items were reported as widely available across NWS.
• 60% of surveyed vendors reported facing supply challenges, -3 ppc since January 2023. Price inflation (56 %, -4 ppc since January 2023) was the most commonly reported supply challenge by surveyed vendors across NWS.
• Finally, more than half of all vendors reported having limited stock of the 5 and 10 USD denominations. In NWS for March 2023, 9 districts / 35 sub-districts / 107 communities were covered, reaching a total of 4,345 shops, with 9 partners supporting data collection