DAMASCUS, Syria — Behind the Umayyad Mosque in the old city of Damascus, where the streets are still busy during the day, Abu Mohammed sits on a wooden chair in front of his gold shop playing backgammon most of the time. The gold trade is no longer in vogue as the number of customers has drastically decreased, and so he has time on his hands.
Al-Monitor met Abu Mohammed at his shop, which has become a place where he spends time at leisure instead of working. “Two years ago customers stopped visiting the shop, except for a few people who come in to sell their possessions or to ask about the constantly rising prices of gold, due to the Syrian pound’s drop against the US dollar,” he told Al-Monitor.