Attachments
Introduction
To inform humanitarian Norrthwest Syria (NWS) cash programming, REACH, in partnership with the CashBased Responses Technical Working Group (CBR-TWG) and Northeast Syria (NES) Cash Working Group (CWG), conducts monthly Market Monitoring Exercises in northern Syria to assess 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 cellphone data.
Of these, 18 items comprise the Survival Minimum Expenditure Basket (SMEB; see below), which represents the minimum, culturally adjusted items required to support a 6-person household for a month.
Data was collected this month (between 6-13 January 2020) by IRC, PIN, and Concern.
The accompanying data from the month of January is disseminated monthly and is distributed through partners across the humanitarian community.
Key Developments
Coverage
Similar to the Market Monitoring Exercise in December 2019, this month’s coverage in NES was limited, covering a total of 9 sub-districts: Ain al Arab, AlMalikeyye, Al-Thawrah, Ar-Raqqa, Jawadiyah, Kisreh, Mansura, Menbij, and Qahtaniyyeh. Due to limited coverage this month, findings and price comparisons are presented at the community level throughout this output. Dotted lines in the graphs indicate lack of data for the months of October and November 2019.
UN cross border resolution
After the previous cross-border resolution expired on 10 January, the UN Security Council passed a limited extension to authorise the provision of humanitarian aid through two border crossings. Authorisation for two additional crossings, al-Ramtha and al-Yaroubiyah, was dropped. REACH will continue to monitor any reported changes to markets in the coming months. REACH relies on data from OCHA to map border crossing status, and these changes are not yet reflected in the most recent dataset. Consequently, the border statuses shown on REACH maps in this output are accurate as of November 2019 and may not reflect the current reality on the ground.
Continued depreciation of the SYP against the USD
The unofficial exchange rate of the Syrian Pound (SYP) against the United States Dollar (USD) continued its depreciation. In the assessed sub-districts in NES, the median exchange rate reached 954 SYP per USD during the week of data collection in January 2020. Reasons for the depreciation of the SYP are manifold, including the continued financial crisis in neighbouring Lebanon and economic sanctions on Syria.
SMEB cost increased across assessed communities
The regional median SMEB cost in SYP continued to increase in January to 104,079 SYP, which represents a 9% increase from the December 2019 Market Monitoring Exercise (95,467 SYP) and a 30% increase since September 2019 (79,648 SYP). However, the SMEB cost in USD continued to decrease due to the depreciation of the SYP, from 131 USD in September 2019 to 111 USD in December 2019, and then to 109 USD in January 2020.