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Businesses in parts of Syria previously held by the Assad regime are trying to sell their goods as a flood of free imports that underestimates domestic producers, promoting widespread anger in the movement of the new government to reduce import tariffs.
Foreign goods, which were restricted for years, were allowed in January after rebels led by Islamist militant Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group President Bashar al-Asad a month ago.
According to Assad’s rule, most of the goods were produced domestically or smuggled through a system of taxes, tasks and excessive fines, increasing steeply. Lack of electricity also means that businesses had to pay amounts of energy.
Some businesses are choosing to close the store temporarily rather than selling goods with great losses, underlining the challenge the new government faces in reviving the shredded economy and maintaining social stability.
A car dealer said a car that costs $ 10,000 in Beirut, for example, would have sold for $ 60,000 in Syria under Assad, but now the same vehicle would go for $ 11,500.
“Two months ago, all the products in the market were Syrian,” said a Damascus -based banker. “Nowadays, a product ready from Turkey is cheaper than the cost of imported fabric.”
A textile businessman in the capital said he expected consumers to eventually realize that imported products were of lower quality, “but by then the market would have been interrupted, and many factories that could not deal with business loss would be closed.”
Since coming to power, the HTS -led government has sought to liberalize the shattered economy in order to promote economic growth and to help rebuild a country shattered by 13 years of civil war. As Assad’s overthrow brought to many people, it has also brought a new series of problems for businesses that survived war and parasitic regime.
The return of imports to the former areas of Assad first met with excitement after residents found themselves capable of buying long-term items from shops, such as Coca-Cola and French Cheese.
But the fire was short, as a crisis across the country and a slowdown in local business activity limited purchasing power of people.
The rapid release of the HTS of import brake has caused dissatisfaction in previous areas controlled by the regime, including the Damascus capital in the south.
“They are doing all this to keep the north happy, while the south pays the price,” said a businessman from Damascus, who said he had closed his factories to wait for the period of economic insecurity.
Caring for new leaders from ENCLAve rebel earlier Idlib, a northwestern province, all businessmen interviewed for this story sought to speak anonymously due to concerns about government revenge.
Some people said they did not oppose the tariffs that diminished, but argued that cuts should be slower and smaller to save businesses from huge losses. Given that the cost of energy was high in Damascus, they said it would be difficult to compete with Turkish businesses if they did not have any tariff support.
“They are selling items 60 to 70 percent cheaper than my prices,” said one alcohol manufacturer. All his operations have been stopped since December.
Dissatisfaction underlined the challenge facing the HTS -led government in expanding its small Fiefdom of Idlib in the rest of the country.
While southern businesses have surprised the lowest tariffs, the introduction of any fee at all has prompted anger at the HTS northwestern heart, where residents had long been accustomed to the free flow of free Turkish imports from beyond the border.
If the new President Ahmed al-Sharaha does not reach the economy “within a few months, he will have a very serious question about his ability to manage the country,” said Jihad Yazigi, News Outlet Syria report.
“I think these changes that go ahead should be thought of much better, but at the moment the guardian government does not have the luxury to do it.”
The Damascus-based banker warned that the industries that had previously been the backbone of the Syrian protectionist economy-as are pharmaceuticals-now at risk. “If they pave the way for pharmaceuticals [imports]That sector would be evisions, “they said.