DamascusThe Syrian Minister of Trade in the Syrian caretaker government, Maher Khalil Al-Hassan, said that customs duties in most of them will witness a decrease, perhaps reaching more than 50% or 60% in some of them, stressing that this will be reflected directly and positively on the prices of goods in the markets.
The minister added that they are in the final stages of a series of meetings held to review customs duties on various goods, whether in terms of import or export, and that customs duty amendments are expected to be issued within a day or two, noting that customs duties during the era of the regime of ousted President Bashar al-Assad were high. very.
Regarding the availability of basic commodities, the Syrian Minister confirmed that the basic materials are available and sufficient for several months, and that most of the basic commodities – especially wheat – are available for production locally, but their availability in the required quantities requires a little time.
In a lengthy interview with Al Jazeera Net, Al-Hassan touched on many economic issues that concern Syrians and the Arab region of Syria.
The following is the text of the dialogue:
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What is your assessment of the markets and the state of the Ministry of Commerce when you took over?
First of all, congratulations on the victory to all Syrians, Arabs, and all free people in the world in general.
In fact, the markets before liberation were in a very miserable situation, with a scarcity of materials, some of them missing, and a rise in prices as a whole. The Syrian citizen was living in humiliation; He lived through long years of oppression, humiliation, and high prices, in addition to the practices that were practiced on him by the former authority.
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Some statements stated that you are moving towards adopting a free market economy. What are the features of the economic model that you intend to adopt in the next stage?
The free economy, or the trend towards opening the market and making it free and competitive, is an almost universal idea. Restricting the market and complicating the restrictions, controls, fees and laws is something that some dictatorial regimes do and use as a means and cover to plunder the people’s wealth and make it confined to the hands of the ruling gang and its cronies.
The Syrian market, both commercial and industrial, was limited to only certain names and categories, which were allowed to participate in production or import and export.
The free market provides room for all merchants and industrialists of all economic classes, whether in import, export, or production. It opens the way for local and foreign investments within certain controls, and leads to an increase in the demand for labor, which leads to what we aspire to, which is an increase in the income of the Syrian citizen.
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You pointed to large corruption networks intertwined with the regime that largely controlled the markets. Are there measures taken towards these networks, merchants, or even employees?
The system of corruption established by the regime cannot be described at one level, but rather at several levels. Unfortunately, perhaps the largest segment is the one who did not find a way to work or to enter the labor market or the production market other than the path that the corrupt regime has drawn for them, by entering within this system in association with certain merchants or people and paying royalties openly, frankly, and clearly so that they can practice their work. The system was based on this basis.
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What about the privileges that these people obtained, and are you considering measures against them?
You may be surprised that more than 70% or 80% of the entire country’s economy is tied up in a group that may not exceed the number of fingers on one hand. Freezing or stopping these factories, laboratories, or companies will lead to a very big disaster.
The decision taken at the present time is to give permission to the cadres, workers, or administrators appointed by them to continue the work, with the presence of specialized technical oversight according to each type of industry or trade to which the competent ministry is affiliated, until the situation of these companies is studied at a later stage within certain controls at the level. State.
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With the fall of the previous regime, people witnessed a decline in the prices of many goods, and this was so noticeable that social media pages were filled with clips talking about it. What caused the previous rise in prices, and is this improvement temporary?
The reason for the rise in prices in the previous time was the corruption system that existed in that era. First, every merchant or industrialist in order to work had to place a large sum of money in the bank under the name of the platform, then he had to associate with one of the merchants and pay him a royalty, in addition to raising customs duties very significantly.
Every material imported from abroad was affected by these factors at a rate ranging from a minimum of 30% and up to 100% of the price of the material itself.
I met some merchants and industrialists, and they told me that they used to sell one spool of imported thread for $7, and now they sell it for $4. The 75% price difference goes to royalties, a platform, and exclusivity for some merchants, in addition to very high fees and customs taxes, whether at the crossings or at home, and corruption in oversight. ration by forcing merchants to pay periodic and monthly sums to one of the security branches specialized in plundering merchants and industrialists.
There was a very large decrease in materials, but at varying rates according to each material.
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Based on this, do you intend to make adjustments in customs duties?
Of course, customs duty amendments are in the process of being issued, and may be issued within a few hours or a day or two. We have begun a series of meetings to review customs duties on various goods, whether import or export, and we are in the final stages of it.
We have adopted a basic mechanism, which is to protect the local product, by placing fees on imported materials that have similar counterparts at home, so that competition between the importer and the local product is limited to quality only, material quality, and does not compete with it in price. We also set very low duties on exports of these local products, to encourage industry and increase economic activity in the country.
Most of the customs duties will witness a decrease, perhaps reaching more than 50% in some of them, or 60%, for imported materials that are unparalleled at home, with very simple and small duties. All of these factors will be directly and positively reflected in the prices of the goods in the materials.
These days, we have seen citizens and people heading to Idlib Governorate and its suburbs to buy materials as a result of the large difference in price between Idlib Governorate and the rest of the governorates, as a result of following the policy that we are talking about and which we will implement in this region.
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There has been news about the removal of some customs duties, is this true?
As types of fees, not removal of fees. For some materials, more than 20% or 28% were imposed on each type of fee with different names and forms.
Therefore, we canceled all of these types, and we also canceled the old customs duty system that relied on billing or a percentage of the value of the material, and we relied on a fixed fee that depended on the weight or number depending on the type of material.
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What is the availability of reserves of basic commodities, and what is your plan to maintain their regular entry into the country?
The basic materials are available and are sufficient for several months after reorganizing and arranging them and placing the necessary protections for them. God willing, we will not need to enter it from abroad, as most basic commodities are available for production at home, but they require a little time, especially wheat.
Syria’s wheat production was once about 4 million tons. This year, Syria’s wheat production is only 700 thousand tons. While the production of Idlib alone – which is not an agricultural area – is 100 thousand tons this year. But I believe that production will increase significantly this year, mainly when implementing the agricultural plan that we are working on now, and I believe that in the 2026 season there will be self-sufficiency in wheat and many other materials.
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How did you receive the US Treasury’s decision to ease sanctions imposed on Syria?
Of course, these days we have seen a great Arab and international interest in Damascus, and everyone has expressed their desire to cooperate with the existing government on two fronts: whether in the field of providing aid and assistance to the Syrian people who have suffered years of oppression and injustice, and the other side is to start investments at a very high level. It will advance and improve the economic situation of the country, which will have a fundamental impact on the people and citizens.
Everyone is waiting. In the presence of sanctions, it is not possible to work in many sectors, especially investment in major industries, the field of energy, oil, and the major food industry, or to import some strategic materials. It is not possible in the presence of sanctions. We received promises some time ago to remove these sanctions, and this was done, thank God, and this is a positive thing.
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There is a scarcity of electronic services in general in Syria. Do you have a plan to enhance e-commerce and electronic services in general?
One of the things that shocked us most was the technical backwardness of the system. We were absent from Damascus for 14 years, and when we entered it it was as if we had left it yesterday. Time has stopped at all levels; We did not notice any change, neither in terms of the general appearance, roads, buildings, or facilities, nor in terms of technology.
You may be surprised that in some ministries there is no printer that prints colored papers. The former regime was not interested in these matters. Its thoughts were limited to plundering, humiliating, and stripping the Syrian people of their humanity. Practices we did not expect on this scale.
We have actually begun working on a program we called “Material Coding.” This program allows us to know at any moment the quantity of any material present in the market, its location, and its price. I believe that we have passed quite a few stages in this program, and it will be launched soon.
This should be mandatory for everyone, whether in food shops, businesses, hotels or restaurants. Any invoice written anywhere comes directly to the program. In this case, we have a comprehensive overview at every moment of any material, its availability, the extent of its need, or even its price, so that we can intervene at the appropriate time if there is a rise in prices.
In addition to working on automating the commercial register. We were surprised that there is a large number of companies that are not automated and not archived, and their existence is limited only to an office, as if you were in the fifties of the twentieth century. Therefore, we worked to automate it quickly, to preserve it, in addition to automating the commercial registry in general.
This is at the ministry level, but at the government level, we worked in Idlib – despite the scarcity of capabilities – to give great attention to the technical, programming and electronic aspects, and many programs were issued that allow citizens to interact with services smoothly and easily. You can pay electronically the electricity bill, education services, and some commercial, industrial, or engineering activities.
It is simple and available, and the world has made great strides in this field, and we are working on it seriously, but it takes some time.
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How did you benefit from the experience of administering Idlib, and what difficulties did you face when you moved to administering Syria as a whole?
The economic policy in Idlib Governorate was two-fold. The first part was to manage Idlib’s economy according to the conditions that this governorate is experiencing, the political, economic and security conditions that are not similar to any other region in the world. Laws and regulations were enacted according to what was appropriate to the existing reality, but there were very strong preparations to prepare the government to fully manage the Syrian file, independently of the Idlib administration file.
This file was completed approximately two or three years ago, and we were ready to fully manage Syria, and we took from it what was appropriate for the situation of Idlib Governorate to implement it.
As everyone witnessed the smooth state in which the government was taken over from the former regime, the institutions did not stop for even an hour. On the contrary, work began immediately, and the second phase of structuring and developing the institutions began to suit reality in order to serve the people and citizens.
