The daunting battle ahead to rebuild Syria’s devastated economy
A push to reboot Syria’s shattered economy has quickly taken shape just days after a lighting rebel offensive ousted President Bashar al-Assad's government on Dec. 8. Crucially, it includes plans to reopen a vital border crossing with Jordan on Dec. 15 amid concerns of food shortages and heightened instability.
As the Financial Times reported Dec. 12, resuming the flow of goods is part of a plan to keep the crisis-hit economy afloat. Spearheading the effort is the acting finance minister, Riad Abd El Raouf, a holdover from Assad’s deposed administration now working with the new transitional government in Damascus.
The border reopening, while important, could prove only a temporary fix for the new authorities, led by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which has inherited a grim economic situation. Once a lower-middle-income country, Syria now has a gross domestic product at less than 15% of its prewar levels, and a 90% poverty rate, according to UN data as of 2022.
In May, the World Bank forecast Syria’s real GDP contracting by 1.5% in 2024 amid high inflation, following a 1.2% real GDP decline in 2023. Socioeconomic conditions deteriorated further amid various shocks, including devastating earthquakes in February 2023 that the World Bank estimated caused $5.1 billion in physical damage in Syria.
