Syria seeks to underpin economic stability

Mohammed Al-Hussein, Syria’s minister of finance, talks to Sudip Roy about the effects of oil price rises and declining domestic production, the development of the country’s banking sector, and efforts at budgetary control and the development of a T-bill market.

President Assad has forecast that the economy will grow by 6% this year. What is the basis for that forecast?

The Syrian economy has grown at good rates over the past few years. The growth rate in 2006 was 5.1%, and in 2007 it was about 6.5%. And it is expected that this growth will continue through 2008 in the light of the structural adjustments the Syrian government has implemented, such as attracting and facilitating foreign direct investments.

Account has to be taken of the global increase in oil prices, in addition to the drought situations, which affected Syria this year.