MESOP NEWS :ASSAD’S NEW ECONOMY ? – Prime Minister: Economy Doing Fine

25 Oct 2017 – The regime’s Prime Minister Imad Khamis has declared that the Syrian economy is in good shape, despite losing more than 75% of its GDP during the 79-month conflict.

Speaking to journalists after the Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Khamis proclaimed said the government is committed to setting up plans to rehabilitate reoccupied areas, with development and investment projects. He said projects worth 186 billion Syrian pounds ($361 million) had been launched this year, including 23 billion SYP ($44.6 million) for districts captured from the opposition in and near Aleppo city in late 2016.

The Assad regime is now dependent on Russian and Iranian assistance to maintain the economy. More than 80% of oilfields are estimated to be in the hands of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, with the country’s largest field in eastern Syria taken by the SDF last weekend. The World Bank estimates that reconstruction of Syria will cost hundreds of billions of dollars. Countries such as the UK have said that an international reconstruction program cannot be approved for Syria without a political settlement. www.mesop.de