Inhabitants of Qamishli in Syrian Kurdistan have been struggling with poverty and the inability to buy basic provisions due to the high cost of living and extreme depreciation of the Syrian pound. In late November, the exchange rate began to exceed 1,000 pounds to the dollar. The cost of buying and shipping foodstuffs and merchandise from Damascus and Iraqi Kurdistan has increased 35% to 45% according to merchants in the area.

Bakhtiar Rasoul, a wholesale cosmetics trader, told Al-Monitor, “Sales have dropped by more than half, and purchases are now limited to foodstuffs. Other professions — such as those involving cosmetics, clothing and men's and women's accessories — are no longer as popular as they once were.” 

Rasoul emphasized, “It is true we are merchants, but at the end of the day, we are citizens buying the remaining food and clothing, and we are also suffering losses due to the increasing price [and thus lower sales] of goods we sell to make ends meet.”

Jamil al-Sayyed, who owns a money exchange office in Qamishli, told Al-Monitor, “People no longer spend a lot in foreign currency, and they just limit their outlays to their needs. The rise and fall of the pound against the dollar has hit purchasing power in the markets hard.... Sales in the food sector have remained active because people need to eat, but they dropped to less than half [the amount sold] before the pound depreciated. I have been watching the market [from my shop], and sometimes, you find the businesses empty and slow. Big traders with lots of capital and large foreign currency balances are not affected. Only people who get paid in pounds are struggling.”