Economic reforms in Syria face huge challenges
Syria, Economics, 7/26/2005

The Syrian economy has been facing huge challenges under a low growth rate and unemployment rate estimated at more than 20%, as well as a decrease in oil production.

In June, the Syrian ruling Baath Arab Socialist Party gave its consent to embark on using the principle of the "social market economy". The 10th regional congress of the Baath party which was held in June in Damascus approved proceeding forward in the economic, social and administrative reform and adopted the principle of the "social market economy". It also approved the need of reforming the public sector and to work to develop it and support the private sector.

Syrian economist Nabil Sukkar said that the economic problem in Syria has been increasing in recent years because of the delay of the state to sustain reforms, and this resulted in accumulation of problems.

However, the Syrian minister of the economy warned against social and economic crises. He said that Syria's shift to the social market economy can generate certain crises because so far, no private institutions that can meet the requirements of the social Markey economy have been built.

Experts say that the Syrian economy needs to register an annual economic growth rate of 7% in order to absorb 300,000 new comers to the labor market annually and to control the unemployment issue, in addition to the need of annual investments estimated between 8 to 9 billion dollars.

Economic growth registered a rate of 2.4% in 2004 and demographic growth rate reached 2.7% according to official figures.

According to a study by the UNDP, some 30% of the Syrians suffer poverty and 5.3 million Syrians are classified as poor, while two million of them are living bellow the poverty line.

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