Key Highlights 

• Following the government’s policy measures and regulations to protect the local currency against inflation, the situation of the Syrian pound has slightly improved against the USD in April 2021 as it became stable in the informal exchange market to 3 000 SYP per 1 USD. This slight improvement has decreased some agricultural inputs and food items’ prices observed in April 2021. 
• As the 2020/2021 winter cropping season ended in April 2021, most farmers are preparing their lands for the summer vegetable production season. The erratic rainfall has resulted in a deficit in the rainfall amount and low inflow into the main water bodies, such as dams and lake storages. This will highly threaten summer crop production, therefore; it will negatively impact the food security and livelihoods situation of vulnerable farmers. There are also concerns on the significant decrease in the water discharge of the Euphrates River, since this poses a real threat on the food security and livelihoods of families who benefit from the water downstream. This will be further worsened by the limited availability and high cost of fuel for underground water extraction. 
• The fuel crisis, which caused significant paralyses in most sectors that relay on fuel, including the agriculture sector, has slightly improved, especially in the second half of April 2021, with the arrival of new oil shipments to Syria and the new applied measurements that obliged by concerned ministries (Oil, Internal Trade and Consumer, Telecommunication) this has stabilized the fuel situation. 
• The number of COVID-19 cases was stable in April 2021. The overall number of registered cases reached 22 733 case, 1 592 of them is the number of deaths being recorded as of end of April 2021. However, and although of the stable situation, there is still a need to follow COVID-19 preventative measures due to potential escalation of the pandemic if the COVID-19 3rd wave arrives to Syria.