Oct 21 Central government

Syria spent $3 billion on pound defense since revolt
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Business/Middle-East/2011/Oct-21/151887-syria-spent-$3-billion-on-pound-defense-since-revolt.ashx
October 21, 2011 05:57 PM
By Massoud A. Derhally
Bloomberg

BEIRUT: Syria has spent about $3 billion defending its currency and financing trade since the start of an uprising seven months ago against the rule of President Bashar al-Assad, said Adib Mayaleh (al-Mayyaalah), governor of the central bank.

The money was from a government fund created in 2007 that had $5 billion when the revolt began, Mayaleh said by phone from Damascus today. The pound is stable and the central bank's foreign-currency reserves remain at about $18 billion, he said.

"The market is constantly changing and we've had to finance external trade, so we've spent about $3 billion from the fund," Mayaleh said. "There is confidence in the central bank, the currency and our ability to manage in this crisis."

Protests against Assad's rule have swept Syria since mid-March, inspired by the uprisings earlier this year that ousted Egypt's and Tunisia's longtime rulers. Assad and the government have blamed the unrest on Islamic militants and foreign provocateurs. He has used tanks, armored vehicles and artillery to crush the most serious threat to his family's 40-year rule, rejecting U.S. and European demands for him to resign.

The European Union expanded sanctions against Syria Oct. 13 in a push to end the crackdown on demonstrators, freezing the EU assets of the state-owned Commercial Bank of Syria. The U.S. also targeted the Commercial Bank of Syria and a subsidiary, banned the import of Syrian petroleum products, and cut Syria's access to the U.S. financial system.

'Psychological Warfare'

Mayaleh dismissed the possibility that the Syrian economy may collapse as the uprising approaches the one-year mark.

"So many have speculated, and we've seen many rumors, about people's wages not being paid or that the central bank has a shortage of banknotes," Mayaleh said. "These are all rumors to try to scare citizens. It's psychological warfare."

He said that if the government was short of cash it wouldn't have helped to finance a $1 billion project to produce electricity in the east of the country this month.

Mayaleh said that while there are no shortages of products in Syria and prices are stable, the international sanctions have affected the operations of Commercial Bank, the country's largest, and the central bank, which no longer uses the dollar.

"We're not living on another planet," he said. "Yes, of course they will."

The central bank is now using Arab currencies, the Chinese yuan, the Russian ruble and euro, he said, adding that if the EU bans Syria from using its single currency the government will take steps to get around such restrictions.

Growth Slows

Growth in Syria's $60 billion economy is expected to slow to about 1 percent this year from 5.5 percent in 2010, Finance Minister Mohammad Al-Jleilati said in a Sept. 7 interview. The International Monetary Fund forecasts the economy will contract 2 percent this year, while the Institute of International Finance said it may shrink 3 percent.

"The sanctions are having an impact, foreign currency is going down perhaps not at as fast a rate as some pessimists think," Chris Phillips, an analyst at the Economist Intelligence Unit in London, said today by phone. "The Syrian economy is certainly contracting at the moment. There is far less economic activity, sanctions are affecting trade and they are trying to reorder the economy around the countries they are still allied with, like Russia and China."

Tourism, which accounts for about 10 percent of gross domestic product, is slumping, with hotel-occupancy rates of almost zero in Damascus, the capital, and Aleppo, Phillips said.

As the uprising continues, "a lot depends on the reaction of the public to increased hard times and the reaction of the business community," Phillips said. "The big question is whether or not the current public will put up with a deteriorating situation, having tasted a degree of economic openness and access to foreign consumer goods, and turn on the regime."

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الاقتصاد: لجنة دراسة آلية دعم المحروقات تجمع المعلومات والإحصاءات لوضع الأفكار والمقترحات
Economy: Commission to Study the mechanism of fuel gathering to support information and statistics to develop ideas and proposals
http://www.sana.sy/ara/4/2011/10/21/376863.htm
October 21, 2011
Damascus, (SANA) -

The Ministry of Economy and Commerce, said that the committee formed to study the mechanism of fuel subsidies, composed of representatives of several ministries to collect information and statistics needed in this area.

The Ministry made clear that if the completion of the collection of information and statistics start phase of the development of proposals and ideas to present later on to the concerned authorities for final approval.