Residents shop for food and necessities on a street in Damascus, Syria, January 5, 2021 (EPA)

Trying to bolster his support amid economic crisis, Syria’s leader Bashar al-Assad has decreed an extra $12.50 payment for civil and military employees and $10 for pensioners.

Assad issued the order on Tuesday for 50,000 Syrian Pounds to the civil and military personnel and SYP 40,000 to the elderly. The Syrian pound, worth about 47:1 v. the US dollar at the time of the Syrian uprising in March 2011, now sells at about 4,000:1.

The payment is the third ordered by Assad since October. It comes a day after the regime raised the price of fuel by more than 50%, in the third increase this year, and the cost of cooking gas by 37%.

The average salary for a public sector worker of SYP 50,000 per month is now barely enough for a meal at a restaurant or for groceries for more than a few days.

Syria’s GDP has fallen by about 75% during the 10-year conflict. The damage has been compounded by extensive corruption, with the Assad elite trying to hold their economic and financial interests. The regime is further constricted by US and European Union sanctions over war crimes, including mass killings of civilians and the deaths of 10,000s of detainees from execution, torture, or poor prison conditions.

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Shortages of food are widespread in regime-held areas, with Syria’s wheat production sharply curbed and the regime unable to obtain wheat imports through tenders. The bread price increased by 247% in 2020, the regime has reduced the availability of subsidized packets, and quality is often poor.

Residents also face lengthy blackouts and shortages of water and other essentials. Inflation is between 180% and 300%, according to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics.

A kilogram (2.2 pounds) of lamb meat costs SYP 29,000. The price of a kilogram of sugar has risen this year from SYP 700 to SYP 2,400.