Islamic State kills perks slashes salaries in budget crunch
Date
2/17/2016 2:33:31 AM
(MENAFN- Asia Times) Video image of coalition airstrike destroying IS finance distribution center near Mosul.
The extremists who once bragged about minting their own currency are having a hard time meeting expenses thanks to coalition airstrikes and other measures that have eroded millions from their finances since last fall. Having built up loyalty among militants with good salaries and honeymoon and baby bonuses the group has stopped providing even the smaller perks: free energy drinks and Snickers bars.
Necessities are dwindling in its urban centers leading to shortages and widespread inflation according to exiles and those still suffering under its rule. Interviews gathered over several weeks included three exiles with networks of family and acquaintances still in the group’s stronghold in Raqqa residents in Mosul and analysts who say IS is turning to alternative funding streams including in Libya.
In Raqqa the group’s stronghold in Syria salaries have been halved since December electricity is rationed and prices for basics are spiraling out of reach according people exiled from the city.
“Not just the militants. Any civil servant from the courts to the schools they cut their salary by 50 percent” said a Raqqa activist now living in the Turkish city of Gaziantep who remains in close contact with his native city. But that apparently wasn’t enough close the gap for a group that needs money to replace weapons lost in airstrikes and battles and pays its fighters first and foremost. Those two expenses account for two-thirds of its budget according to an estimate by Aymenn Jawad al-Tamimi a researcher with the Middle East Forum who sources Islamic State documents. Read more
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