[Regnum] High inflation, Western sanctions and loss of control over oil fields are preventing the new Syrian authorities from restoring the country's economy, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) observers noted in their publication on Monday, December 30.
The new Syrian authorities intend to build a free market, restart the oil industry and establish international cooperation, but this will not be easy, the article says. Journalists recalled that the Syrian pound to dollar exchange rate has fallen 260 times during the military actions in the country.
"We need knowledge and experience to do business, we need technology, we need a lot of things. We especially need sanctions to be lifted, so that the banking system can work properly and move forward," Mohammad Hallaq, vice president of the Damascus Chamber of Commerce, told the WSJ.
The publication estimated the costs required to restore Syria at $400 billion.
As reported by the Regnum news agency, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov previously stated that former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was unable to cope with social problems in the country, including due to the destructive actions of the United States, which occupied the resource-rich northeast of Syria.
The minister stressed that it was the strangulation of the Syrian economy that contributed to social tensions in the country, and Damascus was forced to resort to unpopular measures, including reducing subsidies for socially significant goods and services.
On December 8, Assad resigned as president of Syria and left the country, ordering a peaceful transfer of power. He and his family arrived in Russia, where they were granted asylum. Two days later, the armed Syrian opposition ordered its forces to withdraw from the captured cities so that internal security units and police could enter.
Russia has supported the Syrian government led by Assad in its fight against terrorist forces for several years. Moscow has pledged to provide support as long as the fighting is carried out by the Syrian state itself, President Vladimir Putin noted. Back in 2015, he emphasized that “we are not going to be more Syrian than the Syrians themselves.”