Attachments
INTRODUCTION
To inform humanitarian cash programming,
REACH - in partnership with the northeast (NES) and northwest (NWS) Syria Cash Working Group (CWG) - conducts a monthly Joint Market Monitoring Initiative (JMMI) in northern Syria. The exercise assesses the availability and prices of 36 basic commodities that are typically sold in markets and consumed by average Syrian households, including food and non-food items, water, fuel, and cell phone data.
Of these, 18 items comprise the Survival Minimum Expenditure Basket (SMEB; see fg. 2, 5 and 11) which represents the minimum, culturally adjusted items required to support a 6-person household for a month. For further information, please see our methodology.
The accompanying data is disseminated monthly and is distributed through partners across the humanitarian community. Please see the February 2022 dataset as well as further information, including historical price data which dates back to 2016 for many items.
For a weekly analysis of market trends please also refer to the CWG Joint Rapid Assessment of Markets (JRAM) NES assessment.
This special winter report considers important trends seen over the past year in the JMMI that relate to current prices, and their potential impact, with reference to applicable reports. This special winter report also contains shelter and non-food items (SNFI) winter and shelter market price trends on page 10. The report attempts to contextualise the current economic fragility in Idleb governorate and northeast (NE)
Aleppo governorate in light of the current pressures. While the conflict has continued for over ten years, the Humanitarian Needs Overview for Syria 2022 (HNO 2022) defines the current status in northern Syria as follows:
While the March 2020 Idleb ceasefire agreement led to an overall reduction in hostilities and large-scale displacement, hostilities have intensified throughout 2021 along frontlines across the northwest, northeast and south of the country that have not shifted significantly since 2020.
This context of both stability and fragility are reflected in the economic situation in Northern Syria:
Macro-economic conditions continued to deteriorate in 2021, and appear to be worsening further. The combined effects of currency depreciation, soaring prices, reduced fiscal revenue and increasing domestic debt and widespread losses in livelihoods have plunged additional segments of the population into humanitarian need, most notably in areas historically less affected by hostilities and displacement [ibid].