Enab Baladi – Marina Mrheg
The prices of laptops and their accessories in Syria have dropped in the months following the fall of the Assad regime on December 8, 2024, according to traders in both the Sarouja and al-Bahsa markets in Damascus, which specialize in selling computers of all kinds, technology supplies, and repair services.
The decline included imported computers (used and new), as well as replacement parts and accessories related to the world of technology.
During a tour by Enab Baladi in the mentioned markets, price observations were made, and traders discussed the most important changes that have occurred in the technology market in Syria in recent months.
Price drop and variety
“Today, there are many options available for customers to choose a laptop that suits their work,” said Mohammed Barazi, an employee at “Arkad,” a company specializing in used laptops in Damascus.
Barazi added to Enab Baladi that traders no longer need to resort to illegal means to ship used laptops from the company’s main center in the United Arab Emirates, “because today, shipping is easy and at a very low cost, without anyone bothering us, or having to pay bribes, live in fear of the customs police, or face high fines.”
These facilitations positively reflected on device prices, with the price of an imported used computer from Europe dropping by approximately $50, and a budget of $100 is enough to purchase a defect-free used device with a warranty from the seller, such as a “Dell” with a “Core I3” seventh-generation processor and 8GB of internal memory, and a “256GB SSD” hard drive.
Imad Asfour, one of the importers in the al-Bahsa market in Damascus and the owner of “Summit” Company, believes that the reopening of the Syrian technology market to foreign markets, the speed of import and sale processes, and the absence of obstacles accelerated capital turnover compared to the past, which contributed to reducing profit margins on devices from approximately 15% to 5%, thus leading to a price drop of around 30% on new laptops from their previous prices.
The cheapest new laptop costs about $285, which is a “Dell” with a “Core I3” thirteenth-generation processor, 8GB of internal memory, and a “256GB SSD” hard drive.
Asfour explained the reasons for the high profit margins in the past due to the exorbitant costs that traders had to pay to cover financial levies, customs fees, taxes, and more.
According to the Central Bank of Syria’s bulletin, the exchange rate of the dollar is 12,000 Syrian pounds, while it is about 10,000 Syrian pounds in the black market.
Spare parts as well
Nadhir Sardi, one of the repair technicians in the al-Bahsa market, mentioned the obstacles that faced the technology market in Syria over the past years.
The device repair sector in Syria suffered from a lack of available parts due to import restrictions imposed by previous governments, which forced repair technicians in the market to rely on damaged devices and use their functional parts to repair other devices.
The scarcity of spare parts, especially those that frequently malfunctioned, often resulted in returning the device to its owner with an apology for the inability to repair it, according to Sardi.
In a comparison made by Sardi during his conversation with Enab Baladi about the significant changes that have occurred in his field, he confirmed that the spare parts market today is free of any shortages, and the language of apologies to customers has become a thing of the past, except for modern devices for which the parent company has not yet produced spare parts.
The change not only affected the availability of spare parts but also extended to their prices, as prices dropped after the absence of customs fees that previously cost three times the price of the part, which had inflated the device repair costs to the point of sometimes equaling the price of a clean, used laptop with better specifications.
Batteries and accessories
Laptop batteries are among the most replaced parts by users due to the limited lifespan of the battery, determined by the number of charge and discharge cycles, and users often find themselves needing to replace them every year or two at most.
In previous years, the availability of original battery types in the Syrian market ceased, as users relied on counterfeit parts or what is called “copy.”
One worker at “al-Masri,” a major supplier of batteries, chargers, and computer accessories in the al-Bahsa market, explained that the market for batteries and computer supplies has seen significant improvement recently due to the absence of import restrictions previously imposed on them.
The improvement included the availability of battery types in original copies, as well as high-specification counterfeit versions (copy), which were not permitted in the past due to restrictions, in addition to customs fees that made their prices excessively high and disproportionate to consumers’ purchasing power in Syria.
According to the employee at al-Masri company, battery and computer accessory prices have dropped by about 50%, making new types suitable for consumers’ income. This decrease resulted from the reduction of customs fees imposed on the parts and the lowering of shipping costs, in addition to the absence of the thefts that had targeted the company’s warehouses and the rise in the value of the Syrian pound.
Previous obstacles
The technology market in Syria has declined over the past 14 years due to the economic decisions and policies pursued by governments during the previous regime, which the owner of Summit technology company, Imad Asfour, described as policies of “covert and legal looting by traders,” in addition to the monopolization of many materials and the imposition of market restrictions by companies, traders close to, and with interests in, the former regime.
The previous obstacles revolved around laws prohibiting dealings in anything other than the Syrian pound and banning the import of many devices, such as audio recording devices needed by university students and journalists, which required security approval from the telecommunications branch.
Asfour told Enab Baladi, “Previously, we needed a commercial record, a bank authorization, and most importantly, reviewing the Central Bank of Syria before taking any step, which in turn defined for us the list of materials traders were allowed to import and their quantities.”
He added that many materials were not in great demand in the market, as traders would collectively organize their purchase requests from the same material so that one of them could import it, and “sometimes we would import quantities beyond the market’s needs to meet the conditions set by the central bank and the Prime Minister’s Office.”
Traders, in addition to administrative and financial obstacles, suffered from the long delivery times of shipping orders from the exporting country, due to the control exerted by border crossing personnel over truck entries, and the monopoly of shipping by certain companies, which always sought to understand the background of the goods and companies being imported, in an attempt to control the entire import process, according to what traders told Enab Baladi.
The shipping time for goods from Dubai to Syria has decreased to a maximum of one and a half months after reaching between four to six months, along with accurate scheduling.
Sanctions tying the technology sector
The US Department of State website mentions that Syria was first classified as a “state sponsor of terrorism” in January 1979, which was accompanied by sanctions, and additional sanctions and restrictions were added in May 2004, with the issuance of “Executive Order 13338” in execution of the “Syria Accountability and Lebanese Sovereignty Restoration Act” of 2003.
Although the sanctions have been in place for many years, the most significant and harshest sanctions on Syria emerged after the outbreak of the Syrian revolution in 2011, starting with “Executive Order 13572” in April of that year, which aimed to freeze assets of Syrian officials and others responsible for human rights violations, including those related to oppression, as well as sanctions against various sectors, including the technology sector.
The federal register (volume 89, number 110), in its latest version on June 6, 2024, included the final version of sanctions concerning Syria.
The United States prohibited providing any financial or technological support to the ousted regime in Syria, which is still in effect today under a series of sanctions imposed throughout the years, as reminded by the US Federal Register in its final version.
By about 30%… Computer and accessory prices are decreasing in Syria Enab Baladi.
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