AMMAN - Syria has raised the price of subsidised fuel by a quarter, after doubling electricity prices, as a shortage due to reduced imports threatened industry and the coming wheat harvest and as military use has increased. International trading sources have said that Syria was facing a halt in imports of diesel, needed to power heavy vehicles including army tanks, as a stream of shipments from Russia and elsewhere has dried up in recent weeks. Syrians have been grappling with fuel supply shortages for months as Western sanctions prompted most European oil firms to cut trade. The government increased the cost of a litre of gasoil, a main fuel used as a substitute for diesel and heating oil, to 20 pounds (31 cents) from 15 pounds, the first price change since May last year when the authorities cut it by the same amount. Wednesday's announcement was published on the Syrian state news website SANA. The price hike follows last week's doubling of electricity prices for industry which industrialists have warned would deal a blow to a lot of struggling plants already hit by the unrest. "This will hurt industry already facing losses and could lead to closures," Faris Shahabi, head of Aleppo's chamber of industry was quoted as saying in local media. The authorities have justified the moves as a step to curb smuggling and increase government revenues, saying the annual cost of subsidies topped 250 billion pounds. Syria says it subsidies almost two thirds of the cost of gasoil. Shortages of gasoil are already hurting local industries. Officials say annual consumption is around 7.5 billion litres. The timing of the increase at the start of the wheat harvest season would also raise costs on farmers already unable to secure enough fuel for tractors, pumps and other agricultural machinery, commodity traders said. Thousands of people have been killed in Syria during a year-long popular revolt against President Bashar al-Assad's rule, a co nflict in which the military's use of heavy vehicles has been prominent.
