Katerji

Syria’s latest commercial private sector bank, the National Islamic Bank, has published its opening balance sheet and appointed a CEO as it moves towards launching operations.

Iranian crude oil supplies to Syria increased by 8 percent last year, according to some reports, although statements by Syrian officials and a severe oil crisis, which began in August 2022, suggest otherwise.

The changes in the ownership structure of Arfada Petroleum, an oil company previously owned by the Katerji family, have revealed Russia’s influence in the potentially lucrative venture at the expense of the prominent business family.

The Syrian Salvation Government, the political arm of Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham that controls most of the Idlib governorate, has restructured the lucrative oil and mobile telecommunications sectors to its benefit.

Recent months have confirmed the increased influence of Bashar Al-Assad and Asma Al-Assad over the country’s economy. Almost every other week, new information emerges indicating that businesspeople known for acting as fronts for the Syrian president and his wife have acquired stakes in a company or business project. With unrivalled economic power in their hands, this represents a major turn in how wealth is shared and distributed among Syria’s rulers.

Syria’s oil and gas sector has suffered indirect and direct losses totalling USD 107.10 billion from the start of the uprising in 2011 until mid-2022, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Petroleum provided a breakdown of oil and gas production during the first half of the year