Key highlights from the report include:

• In October, the national average price of WFP’s standard reference food basket reached its highest ever recorded level since monitoring started (2013), increasing by nine percent between September and October 2021. The average price of the reference basket was SYP 202,231 (USD 81 at the official exchange rate of SYP 2,500/USD).
• On 23 October, the Ministry of Internal Trade and Consumer Protection (MoITCP) increased the price of subsidized industrial and commercial diesel from SYP 750/liter to SYP 1,700/liter (up 127 percent) for private industrial facilities and private commercial and service activities. On 24 October, the MoITCP also set the price of domestic and industrial butane gas cylinders for consumers and all sectors outside the electronic card at SYP 30,600/10 kg and SYP 49,000/16 kg, respectively.
• In October 2021, the Syrian pound’s informal exchange rate weakened by one percent, reaching SYP 3,476/USD. Compared to October 2020, the informal Syrian pound exchange rate has depreciated by 33 percent and by 82 percent compared to October 2019 (start of Lebanese financial crisis).