Oil is behind the delay in the endorsement of the Syrian budget

The speaker of the Syrian People's Assembly (PA) Abdul Qader Qaddoura said on Thursday that the delay in approving the Syrian budget for 1999 is resulted from the decline in the oil prices in the first months of this year. Qaddoura did not set a date for issuing the Syrian budget, which is usually released in April or May every year. Syria produces some 600,000 barrels of crude oil of which it exports 320,000