Syria’s economy is a wreck.
After 13 years of relentless civil war, Bashar al-Assad's government has been toppled, but the new coalition faces a monumental challenge to restore stability and its finances.
What hope is there for a country whose GDP has shrunk by 86 percent?
#syria #gdp #economy
Read this piece in full here 👇
https://tinyurl.com/4kaabawj
After 13 years of relentless civil war, Bashar al-Assad's government has been toppled, but the new coalition faces a monumental challenge to restore stability and its finances.
What hope is there for a country whose GDP has shrunk by 86 percent?
#syria #gdp #economy
Read this piece in full here 👇
https://tinyurl.com/4kaabawj
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NewsTranscript
00:00Syria's economy is a wreck. It now ranks as the worst in the Middle East. Its GDP,
00:05gross domestic product or the market value of its products has plummeted by
00:1085% since the 2011 uprising against the former president Bashar al-Assad. Before
00:16the civil war, Syria's economy was ranked 68th in the world alongside nations like
00:22Paraguay and Slovenia. It was home to a range of industries like agriculture,
00:27manufacturing, also retail, tourism and of course oil. In the past 14 years of
00:33war and instability, more than half the population have fled or been forced from
00:39their homes. More than 6 million Syrians left the country altogether, often the
00:44wealthiest and the best educated. According to the United Nations, 90% of
00:50Syrians live in poverty. On top of the spiral of fighting and destruction,
00:55sanctions were imposed on Assad's government by the United States and
00:59European countries, which wiped out most of Syria's legitimate trade
01:04opportunities internationally. In the past decade, Syria's economy became
01:09dependent on informal markets, on foreign aid and also illicit activities. A 2023
01:17US government report mentioned the production of the highly addictive
01:20stimulant drug Captagon as one of the major sources of revenue in Syria. As
01:26lives were lost and those who could escape did, the Syrian pound lost more
01:31than 140% of its value. The currency tanked that badly in 2023 alone.
01:38Inflation soared, driving up sharp increases in the cost of food, fuel and
01:43other everyday necessities. Syria's interim government, backed for now by the
01:49largest and most dominant militant group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, has pledged to
01:55rebuild the country on a free market model. Rebuilding a shattered economy
02:00with so many insecurities and uncertainties will be difficult, and the
02:05road to pre-2011 prosperity could be long and very challenging.