In this 2,300-word factsheet we provide a profile of Samer Foz, who in the space of the past two years has risen to become Syria’s most powerful investor.

The Syrian financial markets regulator has revoked the license of several investment banks, some of them regional institutions, which had already suspended their operations in Syria or never started them.

A selection of reports, papers and articles on Syria.

Updated on January 23, 2018: The Syrian financial markets regulator has renewed for one more year the license of seven brokerage firms, while many others have their operations suspended or entirely left the market.

Egyptian President AbdulFattah Al-Sisi inaugurated last week near Cairo a large textile plant by one of Syria’s most prominent industrialists, who looks set never to return to his home country.

Updated on February 02, 2018 (see bottom for details on updates): A new Syrian investor has signed an agreement to invest in the Basatin Al-Razi real estate area near Damascus.

A selection of reports, papers and articles on Syria.

The text of U.N. Security Council resolution 2393 (2017) adopted on December 19, 2017, renewing for twelve months the authorization granted on July 2014 to the United Nations and its partners to deliver aid across borders not controlled by the Syrian Government.

Iraq and Syria signed on December 28 an agreement to restore a link between their respective electricity grids.

The Free Syria Chamber of Commerce and Industry, an opposition business lobbying group, has elected its new board of directors.

Advisory and engineering services

Businessmen in various Syrian industries are complaining of a lack of manpower despite the country’s massive unemployment rate.

Syrian-Iranian bilateral trade, excluding crude oil, increased over the past two years, although it remains well below its pre-uprising level.

Samer Foz, the increasingly powerful and visible Syrian investor, is expanding his investment portfolio with a new venture in the pharmaceuticals sector.

Syria and Oman signed last week a memorandum of understanding in the oil and gas sector, an agreement that has a political as much as an economic significance.

These two tables provide data on Syria's production of rock phosphate between 2003 and 2016 as well as its reserves and global ranking.

Syria's Production of Phosphate 2003-2016 (thousand tons)

The Ministry of Economy is preparing to relaunch bilateral business councils with several countries it considers “friendly,” including the Czech Republic, a member of the European Union.

The tables below provide a list of Syria's main trading partners last year with the value of their exports to, and import from, Syria.

Oil drilling and wells maintenance, other oil services

Syria’s foreign trade declined by around a fifth last year, suggesting a further contraction in spending and investment, initial data show.

The tables below provide a list of all Syria's trading partners last year with the value of their exports to, and import from, Syria.

A weekly selection of reports, papers and articles on Syria.

The text of U.N. Security Council resolution 2368 (2017) adopted on July 20, 2017 encouraging Governments to update their methods for cutting off funds to terrorist groups, preventing their travel, banning them from acquiring arms and ensuring that sanctions were fully implemented.

The text of the resolution reads as follows:

Several prominent Syrian businessmen, under pressure by the regime, have sold their assets to members of the new business elite, a reflection of how the war is changing the Syrian business landscape.

The text of the interview of Bashar Al-Assad by WION, an Indian TV station, in Damascus on June 03, 2017.

Mining

The Central Bank of Syria has revoked the license of one of the few microfinance institutions working in the country.

Elsewedy, an Egyptian industrial group, has changed the name of all its Syrian subsidiaries, in an apparent move to dissociate itself from Syria, which remains under western sanctions.

The tables below provide a breakdown by countries of Syria's exports and imports in 2010, the last year before the uprising and for which data from the Syrian authorities is available.

The tables below provide details on the main clients and suppliers of oil products to Syria in 2009, the last year for which data is available.

In this 2,500-word factsheet, we provide an overview of Syria’s economic and financial relations with Russia.

Russian oil engineering companies are reportedly already active in Syria as the Syrian President said that new contracts would be granted to them.

The Central Bank of Syria is reportedly considering issuing dollar-denominated treasury bonds to finance the import of energy products, a prospect that could reflect a disconnect of the financial authorities with economic and political realities.

The list below includes the names of all the Syrian entities that have been blacklisted by the European Union since the beginning of the uprising in March 2011.

The international community has pledged to give USD 5.9 billion to offset the humanitarian impact of the war on Syria and its neighbouring countries.

A Syrian investor is playing a key role in one of the largest merger and acquisition deals in the MENA region.

Western airlines are planning a resumption of flights to and through Syria, the Minister of Transport has said, although the prospects of this happening any time soon appear remote.

An Egyptian official has said that his government is planning to establish an industrial zone dedicated to Syrian investors, potentially dashing any hope of a return of these investors to their home country.

A weekly selection of reports, papers and articles on Syria.

The attempt by the Syrian government to lure back investors who fled the country is facing resistance from regime cronies, reflecting the obstacles that any serious reconstruction drive will face.

The government is embarking on a new deal to import much needed wheat although it only has money to procure a small portion of its requirements.

While a Syrian company announced last week the beginning of production and sale of two new cars assembled locally, the Government still struggles to attract back manufacturers.

Syria is the third largest per-capita consumer of table olives in the world, a recent report has found.

International organisations plan to spend this year USD 8.0 billion on refugees, IDPs and host communities in Syria and neighbouring countries, an amount that will help boost somewhat the Syrian and regional economies.

Syria’s one-million-ton wheat import deal from Russia, which was contracted to a little-known company, is now reportedly in jeopardy, highlighting the disruptive role regime cronies play in all sectors of the economy.

Some 180 thousand Syrian children were born in Turkey in the past five years, according to official data.

A weekly selection of reports, papers and articles on Syria.