US President Donald Trump said that he would raise the sanctions imposed for years on Syria, which has beenolated the country from the global financial system during the era of ousted President Bashar al -Assad.
The European Union and Britain have already lifted some of their sanctions, but if Washington has now goes on to lift all its sanctions, this will pave the way for others to take the same direction.
Below is a summary of the current situation of the Syrian economy, and how the war was restored for 14 years, which ended in the fall of Assad last December, the formation of government trade and financial.
1- What is the situation of the Syrian economy?
- The World Bank estimates indicate that the value of the Syrian economy is about 21 billion dollars, which is almost equivalent to Albania and Armenia, whose population is less than 20 million.
- The official Syrian data shows that the size of the economy decreased to more than half between 2010 and 2022, and the World Bank suggests that up to that rate is less than real numbers, amid estimates indicating a more severe contraction of 83% between 2010 and 2024.
- Syria was redraining a low -income country in 2018, as more than 90% of its population, which numbered about 25 million, lives below the poverty line, according to United Nations agencies..
2- What happened to the Syrian currency?
- The economic turmoil in Syria was exacerbated in 2019 when the adjacent Lebanon slipped into a crisis, given the extensive economic and financial relations that link the two countries.
- I put up Damascus Multiple exchange rates for various transactions to protect the hard -shameful currency.
- After the new government took power last December, the Central Bank pledged By adopting a unified official exchange rate for the Syrian pound.
- Maysa Sabreen was chosen as the governor of the central bank, thus being the first woman to hold this position in its history that extends for more than 70 years.
- The exchange rate reached Yesterday, Wednesday, 11 thousand and 65 pounds per dollar, compared to the black market prices, in which the price of the dollar amounted to about 22 thousand pounds at the time of the fall of Assad last year, and 47 pounds in March 2011 when the war broke out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuwvjwrru
3- How many debts owed to Syria?
- The government said that its debts range between 20 and 23 billion dollars, most of which are in the form of bilateral loans, but these debts may be much higher because it may face claims from Iran and Russia for an amount ranging between 30 and 50 billion dollars.
- Principal lawyers in the field of sovereign debt say that these obligations dating back to the Assad era can be removed due to the debts of a “hateful” war, which are debts that the country carried without the approval or spending of the Syrian people in its favor because of the direction of many of them to provide the Assad government with weapons.
- A report issued by the Peterson Institute shows recently that the binding Syrian parties such as the government or the central bank must also be identified Or state -owned companies or commercial institutions, as different types of debts need different treatment when restructuring.
4- What are the precautions of the central bank?
- Reuters quoted sources earlier as saying that the central bank has foreign exchange reserves not exceeding $ 200 million, a significant decrease from $ 18.5 billion, the International Monetary Fund estimated that Syria owned it before the outbreak of the civil war.
- The Central also has approximately 26 tons of gold, with a value of more than $ 2.6 billion at the current market prices.
- The new government said it expects to recover $ 400 million of its frozen assets to help finance reforms that include sharp increases in the salaries of some public sector employees recently approved by the country.
- Western governments froze these assets during the Assad’s rule, but their exact value and location are not yet clear and the extent of their restoration.
- Switzerland said that about 99 million Swiss francs (118 million dollars) are currently in banks there, and the “Syria report” also estimates that the value of 163 million pounds (217 million dollars) is present in Britain..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bimob4olbi
5- How did war and sanctions affect trade and economics?
- According to the World Bank, oil and tourism revenues dwinding to a decrease in Syria’s exports from $ 18.4 billion in 2010 to $ 1.8 billion in 2021.
- Experts say the financial pressures that the government was subjected to paying the price of some major imports with illegal funds of sales of steroids similar to amphetamine that causes addiction and known as the Captagon, or from fuel smuggling.
- Captagon production has become the most valuable economic sector Last year, the total market value of the drug produced in Syria is $ 5.6 billion.
6- What is energy challenges?
- In 2010, Syria exported 380 thousand barrels per day of oil, and this source of revenues receded after the war in 2011, and various groups, including the Islamic State and Kurdish fighters, seized oil fields, and despite the signing of the Kurdish groups deals with American companies, the sanctions made it difficult to export oil legally.
- These losses forced Syria to rely on energy imports, most of which are allies Russia and Iran, and Rachel Zimba, chief of sanctions consultant to Horizon Inguej, said that fuel ranges between one million and 3 million barrels that Syria was obtaining from Iran monthly stopped in late December last with the withdrawal of Tehran.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4mdn7zrao
7- How did agriculture suffer?
The conflict and drought led to a decrease in the number of farmers and irrigation damage, and the possibility of obtaining seeds and fertilizers diminished, as:
- Agricultural production decreased to unprecedented levels in 2021 and 2022, when wheat production fell alone to a quarter of the amount, which was about 4 million tons annually before the war.
- Syria imported about one million tons of grains annually from RussiaAnd the flows stopped temporarily when the ruling regime changed, but it resumed last month.
- I show off Ukraine Its willingness to supply wheat without the clarity of the mechanism in which Syria will pay the payments.
