Benzene prices may increase at 51% in Syria
Syria, Economics, 5/14/2002

Syria's President Bashar al-Assad on Monday issued three among five legislative decrees which will strongly contribute to improve the monthly income of the Syrian state employees or the retired people.

The decrees provide for increasing salaries by 20% and 15% for retired people and three fold increase for family member ( for the wife and children).

The last salary increase in Syria which was in September 2000 reached 25% was considered then as not enough.

The Syrian minister of finance Muhammad al-Atrash considered that these legislative decrees come within the context of President al-Assad's directives in the "economic reforms especially the financial field and basically to improve the status of the state's general budget at the intermediate and long run."

On the other hand, the Syrian weekly al-Iqtisadeyah ( the economic) said that the Syrian finance minister Muhammad al-Atrash issued a decision that provides for "precaution detention" on the money of the director general of the Qasyoun company engineer Rabee al-Jallab and his wife and many of his assistants under charges of financial violations. The decision prescribes on the accused persons to pay sums exceeding 47 million Syrian pounds ( almost one million USD), according to the weekly.

Meantime, and just few hours after President al- Assad issued the decrees to increase the salaries most fuel stations in Damascus were closed in a measure which was only understood in the context of a possible increase in Benzene prices as rumored by 51% of the current Benzene price in Syria.

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