Economy

Within two years, the Syrian government’s budget has been reduced by nearly 50 percent when measured in dollar terms. Next year’s budget stands at USD 5.3 billion, a 22-percent decrease from the 2021 budget, while the budget's deficit is around SYP 4.1 trillion (or USD 1.6 billion).

In 2019 and 2020, the Syrian government diverted tens of millions of dollars worth of UN aid donations, according to joint-research carried out by three research centres.

In December 2020, Syria’s annual inflation rate reached a record high of 163.1 percent, the largest year-on-year increase in decades, according to data from the Central Bureau of Statistics.

Osman Aidi, a well-known hotelier and businessman in Syria, passed away at the age of ninety last week. Although state-owned media did not report on his death, Mr Aidi was one of the few Syrian businessmen who was influential in Syria’s economy both before and after the Baath Party took control of the country.

On September 30, 2021, the British government delisted prominent Syrian businessman Nizar Al-Assaad, Former Agriculture and Agrarian Reform Minister Ahmad Al-Qadri, Former Minister of Defence Ali Habib Mahmoud, Former Minister of Industry Mohammad Maen Zein Al-Abidin Jazba, and Deputy Director-General of the Scientific Studies and Research Centre (SSRC) Salam Tohme from its sanctions list.

On September 14, dozens of U.S. nationals filed a lawsuit against the Syrian government for an attack carried out by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in Brussels Airport in 2016.

Official Iranian delegations continue to flood into Syria to urge the government to implement past agreements, increase cooperation, and boost bilateral trade.

On September 22, the EU General Court dismissed Syrian entrepreneur Maher Al-Imam’s appeal to be dropped from the EU sanctions list after he was listed as an influential persona who supports the Syrian government late last year.

The Autonomous Administration in North and East Syria (AANES) has increased the monthly salaries of doctors, dentists, and pharmacists who work in its medical centres by 30 percent.

Updated on September 29, 2021: In the past week, there have been two high-level meetings between Syrian and Jordanian officials in what seems to be part of a wider trend in the Arab region to re-engage Damascus.

A recent report published by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), an investigative reporting organisation, implicates Syrian businessmen and criminals close to the Assad family and a Libyan gang in a 2018 Greek drug bust and traces the shipment of drugs back to the Lattakia port.

President Bashar Al-Assad has enacted a new one-time bonus for wounded veterans of the military, security forces, and the National Defence Forces, a pro-government militia.

On Thursday, September 9, the Court of Appeal of Paris upheld a lower court ruling against Rifaat Al-Assad, the uncle of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

The Syria Recovery Trust Fund (SRTF) approved its second revolving community credit fund to support economic recovery and stabilisation in northwest Syria, in collaboration with the Near East Foundation, an American humanitarian NGO that focuses on peacebuilding, sustainable agriculture, and microenterprise development.

The U.S. Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control released its 29th annual Terrorist Asset Report, which documents assets owned in the United States that are blocked, i.e. frozen, under the U.S. Counter-Terrorism Sanctions.

Over the past few weeks, the Aleppo business community faced a government crackdown, highlighting a combination of challenges the country’s northern city endures and consequent resentment towards the strong-arm policies of the government.

The British government has lifted its asset freeze on Tarif Al-Akhras, a prominent Syrian businessman, without providing any clear reason. Mr Akhras has close ties to the Syrian government and is the second cousin of Asma Al-Assad, the wife of Syria's President Bashar Al-Assad.

The number of new businesses established in the first half of this year increased markedly compared to the same period of 2020, largely a consequence of last year’s COVID-19-related low numbers.

The Syrian government is increasing the compensation that wounded veterans from the National Defence Militia are receiving every month.

After months of relative stabilization, the Syrian pound has been losing again some ground in the local foreign exchange market, raising fears of a new rise in prices. An increase in the price of fuel oil will generate similar risks.