Syrian Crisis Causes Billions Of Dollars In Losses

Syria has lost up to 30 billions U.S. dollars over the past 18 months due to the damage to infrastructure, costs of stemming protests as well as economic slowdown, the cabinet said in a newsletter Wednesday.

The Syrian cabinet’s assessment of the economic situation in the unrest-torn country during the first quarter of 2012 was released at the time the Syrian government is still showing unwavering resolution to go on with its crackdown on rebels.

Economists noted the heavy losses exclude the costs of external blockade, underlining that these losses are equivalent to Syria’s investment budget for at least seven years.

According to the newsletter, the months-long crisis has casted a dim shadow on all service sectors, mainly the tourism and transportation sectors.

The number of tourists declined by about 76.4 percent during the first three months of 2012 compared to the corresponding period of 2011 while tourism revenues diminished from 52 billion Syrian pounds in the first quarter of 2011 to 12.8 billion in the same period of 2012, down by 75.4 percent.

The newsletter revealed that Syria’s inflation rate has increased from 6.7 percent during the fourth quarter of 2011 to 22. 54 percent during the first quarter of 2012, an increase of approximately 236.4 percent.

It attributed the high inflation to a rise in the price index of 12 out of 13 commodity groups, mainly the food stuff and non- alcoholic beverages.

The cabinet newsletter also showed that the exchange rate of the U.S. dollar declined to about 58.56 Syrian pounds from 51.28 pounds during the first quarter of 2011.

The number of investment projects licensed during the first quarter of 2012 dropped from 30 during the fourth quarter of 2011 to 15 in the first quarter of 2012.

Syria also suffers from crunching and incessant economic sanctions imposed by the Arab and western countries purportedly to accelerate the collapse of the Syrian leadership.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said in an interview with the pro-government Addounia TV aired Wednesday that the Syrian military still needs time to end the battle against rebels. However, it’s still unclear to what extent his country’s crumbling economy will be able to withstand.

Sanctions against Syria’s oil industry have taken a substantial toll, draining four billion U.S. dollars from the country’s economy so far and causing widespread fuel shortage.

Syria’s oil exports fell from 13.5 thousand tons in the fourth quarter of 2011 to 7.5 thousand tons in the first quarter in 2012, a decrease by around 44.4 percent, the newsletter said.

It added the import value of oil derivatives and clear gas increased to 844.25 million dollars, compared with 817 million dollars during the fourth quarter of 2011, an increase of about 3. 3 percent.

Xinhuanet