In a report from New Lines Magazine, senior Syrian Arab Red Crescent staff told Nidal Betare and Sasha Ghosh-Siminoff that over 80% of UN-facilitated cash-based assistance in the country is siphoned off.

In 2021 alone, $116 million USD was spent on cash and voucher-based programs.

Source

Cash-based assistance, while more efficient and helpful than in-kind assistance in ordinary circumstances, should be deprioritized in Syria because of:

• the gap between UN and black market rates

• low tractability

• the sanctions on the Central Bank

But donors are doing the opposite.

Link to the Newlines Magazine report