Courtesy of The Financial Times, a report on Syria’s economy which is on the brink of collapse:

The wages Youssef once earned as a taxi driver in Aleppo used to be enough: though the days were often long, his family had never been in need.

But in recent weeks, acute fuel shortages have paralysed regime-held parts of Syria and Youssef is increasingly unable to find, let alone afford, fuel.

“I usually drive my children to school before starting a shift. But in the past few weeks, I haven’t had enough petrol to do either,” said Youssef, who only wanted to be identified by his first name. “No petrol means no work and no school.”

The 37-year-old has picked up odd jobs to help his family survive what experts and residents say is one of the worst crises to hit the country since the outbreak of a civil war in 2011.

With the backing of Iran and Russia, President Bashar al-Assad’s regime brutally crushed the rebellion and now controls about two-thirds of the country but conflict, western sanctions and the collapse of neighbouring Lebanon’s banking system have brought the economy to the verge of collapse.

The ripple effects of the fuel crisis were widespread, said Emma Forster, the Norwegian Refugee Council’s Syria policy and communications manager in Damascus. “People are telling us this is the worst year yet: before, fuel was available but it was very expensive. Now it’s just not available at all, and it is having a knock-on effect on every aspect of life in Syria, which was already very hard for many.”

Much of the country is at a standstill, as there is no fuel for generators to provide electricity: factories have paused operations and universities have cancelled classes. Power outages of up to 22 hours a day have become the norm in Damascus and its surrounding region. In a new report this month, the UN warned that 15.3mn people in Syria, out of a total population of 22.1mn, require humanitarian aid — the highest number of people in need since the start of the conflict.

The lack of power was affecting healthcare, schooling and water systems, said Forster. As winter bites, people were resorting to burning “anything they can find to keep warm: wood if they can afford it, trash, plastic bags, rubber tyres, old clothes and shoes, even pistachio peel”.

In a rare move, the government, which tightly controls its public messaging, announced its offices would close for two working days this month. “It feels like we’re going back to the stone age,” said one government employee in Damascus, who identified himself only as Abu Omar. In the past two weeks, he has only been able to get to work five times.

Oil minister Bassam Tohme blamed the shortages on the temporary suspension of oil shipments from Iran, a key ally of Assad’s government and the main supplier of fuel since western sanctions were imposed in the early years of the war.

Data on fuel shipments between the two countries is patchy and it is not clear why Iran would have reduced supplies. But “there’s no reason not to believe the government on this, especially because they make a lot of money in this sector”, said Jihad Yazigi, editor of the economic news bulletin Syria Report. “[Tohme] said Iranian supplies had declined. If it weren’t the case, it would be unlikely for him to blame the Iranians for a domestic crisis.”

Iranian fuel imports are usually bought on credit, but the shortages are forcing the government to seek supplies elsewhere, which it must pay for in cash taken from its scant foreign currency reserves. This has contributed to the Syrian pound hitting a record 6,000 to the dollar on the black market.

Government officials have also blamed the shortages on US-imposed sanctions, Turkey’s recent military campaign in north-east Syria, where air strikes have damaged energy infrastructure including refineries and power plants, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has contributed to higher prices.

With little in the way of revenues and rampant corruption, the government has cut back on badly needed subsidies, with millions of Syrians losing access to subsidised food and oil products earlier this year. Those who still qualify for subsidised fuel are entitled to 25 litres of petrol every 10 days, but residents and analysts say they can only obtain fuel every 20 days.

The government has almost doubled the price of non-subsidised fuel to S£5,400 for one litre of diesel and S£4,900 for one litre of petrol. It has further slashed fuel allocations by 40 per cent for government vehicles until the end of the year.

The Ministry of Internal Trade and Consumer Protection, which governs the distribution of oil products, regularly announces raids on black market operators on Facebook. But, in a rare show of public dissent, these posts are typically met with derision and anger.

The fuel crisis was one reason for small protests in Druze-majority Sweida province earlier this month, which left one protester and one police officer dead, and several others wounded.

For now, though, experts say the crisis is unlikely to have broader political ramifications for Assad’s regime.

“This regime was willing to destroy the whole country to remain in power and I trust the regime to scare people enough into submission,” Yazigi said.

For many people, the start of winter has only brought home the severity of the crisis. Youssef has started to panic: “Last winter was hard, but this one could kill us.”