Damascus – In a remarkable economic and political development, the State of Qatar advanced on an initiative to cover public sector salaries in Syria, in a move that observers considered to be a turning point in the path of recovering the Syrian economy after decades of corruption and 14 years of continuous conflict.
The Qatari initiative is the first direct external financial pump in favor of the new Syrian government, under critical financial conditions in the country, and a significant deterioration in the level of salaries and public services.
The Syrian Finance Minister, Mohamed Youser Burniyah, announced the details of the grant, explaining that it is 29 million dollars per month, and extends for three months, which can be extended.
He added that this grant is dedicated to covering part of the wage and salary bill in the public sector.
Burniyah said, in a statement to “SANA”, that the grant will be paid to workers in the sectors of health, education and social affairs, in addition to retirees from the non -military, and it will cover about five total the current salary bill.
The minister indicated that the management of this grant will be implemented through the United Nations Development Program “UNDP”.
After strategic
The researcher in the Syrian political affairs, Mustafa Al -Nuaimi, considered that this grant represents a “gateway to a similar grant that may be offered to the new Syrian state”, in a way that contributes to alleviating the suffering of the Syrian people, and paved the way for Syria’s return to its Arab environment gradually.
He stressed that this step is not just financial support, but rather a strategic dimension that seeks to move the wheel of the economy in various sectors.
In an interview with Al -Jazeera Net, Al -Nuaimi indicated that the Qatari role was effective and positive during the two phases of the revolution and rebuilding the state, considering that saving Syria in the post -Assad era period represents a common goal at the Arab and international levels.
He believed that this Qatari initiative may be the beginning of a broader Arab and regional action towards supporting Syria, especially in light of the recent developments that include the American partial lifting of restrictions on financial transfers, which could gradually pave the way for lifting sanctions after giving some countries specific exemptions, and also saw that these steps may provide real ground for a broader economic openness towards Syria.
Possible economic repercussions
For his part, Syrian economist Firas Shaabu believes that this grant represents a financial intervention that has possible effects that can be summarized as follows:
- Achieving a degree of temporary financial stability.
- Enabling the government to make administrative reforms in the targeted sectors.
- Allowing the redirect of the budget towards productive projects that improve the living and service reality.
- Reducing pressure from the exhausted general budget as a result of poor revenues and shrinking the tax base.
Shaabu added, in his interview with Al -Jazeera Net, that the grant represents a positive indication of some countries’ willingness to provide larger financial grants, provided that transparency is available and the adoption of the foundations of rational governance in money management.
For his part, economist Younes Al -Karim considered that pumping a monetary bloc of this size would lead to an increase in demand for basic commodities, which may push towards high prices, especially with the continued weakness of public liquidity and the lack of flexibility in the supply.
The cream ruled out that this grant would have a major impact on the exchange rate of the Syrian pound, based on a number of reasons, including:
- The presence of policies restricting liquidity movement in merchants.
- There is no expansion of demand for the dollar for import financing purposes.
- Determining the exchange rate by the central bank and not according to the market mechanisms, which limits its impact on the interim changes.
- The limited amount of the grant compared to the needs of the Syrian market.
But on the other hand, he stressed that this grant represents a positive moral indication of an Arab move to support the Syrian people, and this impression may be imparted by the value of the lira in the market.
Expecting an expected impact on vital sectors
Firas Shaabu pointed out that the grant can be used to improve government sectors such as education and health as long as it reduces the burden on the general budget, but at the same time he stressed that the effect remains dependent on the government’s performance in implementing effective programs.
As for Yunus Al -Karim, he saw that the impact on education may be indirect by raising the salaries of teachers or parents, which may push them to amend their plans towards teaching their children.
He pointed out that supporting the educational apparatus can contribute to reducing the leakage of teachers from the public sector as a result of living pressures and the absence of incentives.
Al -Karim concluded his speech to Al -Jazeera Net by referring to the presence of about 900,000 employees currently in Syria after wide separation waves, along with an unknown consultative device, and employees coming from Idlib who receive their salaries in dollars, which makes it difficult to determine the exact impact of the grant.
Qatar .. Continuous support in the post -Assad stage
The last months have witnessed a series of Qatari initiatives aimed at supporting and supporting the Syrian people in the post -Bashar al -Assad regime last December. In addition to relief activities, the State of Qatar has initiated initiatives to improve the economic and service reality in the country.
One of the most prominent of these initiatives was the Qatari partnership with Turkey in the rehabilitation of Syrian airports as soon as the caretaker government took over the management of the country, as part of a comprehensive plan to rebuild the air transport infrastructure that was severely affected during the war years.
Last March, the State of Qatar began providing supplies of natural gas to Syria via Jordanian territory, in a move aimed at addressing the severe shortage of electricity and improving the performance of energy infrastructure.
Qatar, in cooperation with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, last April, settled the arrears of Syria to the World Bank, amounting to about 15 million dollars, which allowed the International Financial Corporation to resume providing grants and aid to Syria after a break of more than 14 years.
