Version 1: Sat, Oct 18, 2025
Trump, MBS and Sharaa - May 2025. Source: SOTT.net
A small collection of articles, tip of the iceberg, about Syrian economy:
Privatizing Syria: US Plans to Sell Off a Nation’s Wealth After Assad https://www.mintpressnews.com/privatizing-syria-us-plans-to-sell-off-a-nations-wealth-after-assad/288843/ by Kit Klarenberg - Mint Prees News - Dec 17, 2024 - Archive https://archive.ph/XUCfQ
Insightful article written just a week after the fall of the Bashar al-Assad government. Two points of note, Klarenberg
- draws parallel with the attack on Yugoslavia and what happened after the end of the war
- the article links to UN reports showing that as late as 2018 Syria was performing well, but of course after a point the sanctions and the foreign intervention took over
Compare this article with what Beeley describes below to appreciate how prescient Klarenberg was last December.
Free market economy in Syria: We’ve seen this failure before: The model the new regime seeks to implement, is a standard international recipe which includes tax cuts for corporations, and privatization of public assets https://peoplesdispatch.org/2025/05/21/free-market-economy-in-syria-weve-seen-this-failure-before/ by Mohammad Khansa - Peoples Dispatch - May 21, 2025 - Archive https://archive.ph/Bz7b3
Critical take on the prospects but going back to policies in the 2000s with a more straightforward economic analysis. Two excerpts
It appears that the new regime has not learned the lessons of Assad’s liberalization plan in the decade leading up to the Syrian uprising in 2011. Bashar al-Assad’s aggressive push toward a free market economy is well documented in Mohammad Jamal Barut’s book “The Last Decade in Syria’s History: The Dialectic of Stagnation and Reform.”
Barut points out that liberalization was achieved through a sweeping wave of legislative and policy reforms, known as the Decree Revolution, which saw the introduction of over 1,200 new laws between 2000 and 2005. These reforms were designed to integrate the Syrian economy into global economic flows, benefit from Syrian capital, and take advantage of the financial boom in the Gulf region.
Syrian economist Jihad Yazigi points out that following Syria’s economic liberalization in the early 2000s, private investors took the reins and dominated almost every major sector of the economy. The private sector became the driving force behind agriculture, manufacturing, construction, wholesale and retail trade, tourism, domestic transportation, and more, not to mention new opportunities in energy and finance. Barut’s book shows how tangible these results have been: The private sector’s contribution to GDP rose from 59.8% in 2000-2005 to 64.9% in 2006-2009.
It is important to note that this economic liberalization came at the expense of industrialization, favoring high-return, high-yield activities in the services sector, with the benefits going largely to the country’s wealthiest elites.
The social consequences of the liberalization model were stark. The percentage of Syrians living below the poverty line rose from 11.4% (2.04 million people) in 2004 to 12.3% (2.36 million) in 2007. Inflation surged from 10% in 2006 to 15.15% in 2008, making that year the worst of the decade.
And on the Latakia port renewal:
On May 1, Syria signed its first major investment deal with a global corporation, a €230 million, 30-year contract with France’s CMA CGM to develop and operate the Port of Latakia, the country’s main seaport.
Additional information on the CMA CGM deal:
CMA CGM expands management agreement for Syria’s Latakia box terminal: New 30-year concession includes construction of additional containership berth - Investment by CMA CGM is valued at about $260m https://www.lloydslist.com/LL1153351/CMA-CGM-expands-management-agreement-for-Syria%E2%80%99s-Latakia-box-terminal - Lloyd’s List - 2 May 2025
Syria: Prey to the Globalist Cabal and Crony Capitalist Al Qaeda Regime https://www.ukcolumn.org/article/syria-prey-to-the-globalist-cabal-and-crony-capitalist-al-qaeda-regime by Vanessa Beeley - UK Column - 14 Aug 2025 - Archive https://archive.ph/u0IXP
If you read only one article on this post this is it. Beeley is a long time resident in the region and knows it intimately. Her articles https://www.ukcolumn.org/writer/vanessa-beeley and The Cradle https://thecradle.co/ are my best sources on the volving situation in the country.
Syria’s quest to build its own Silicon Valley: Tech founders in Damascus are rebooting a war-torn country https://restofworld.org/2025/syria-tech-industry/ By Emily Wither - Rest of world - 16 Sep 2025 - Archive https://archive.ph/UqRdU
Reminds me of articles about ICT4D for Africa 15-20 years ago I used to believe. Since then I have come to realize that what is needed goes well beyond simple coding. Interesting to read it as an eefort ot ‘sell’ the new government despite mild criticism.
Previously:
- File: Syria in Transition https://metagora.blogspot.com/2025/01/file-syria-in-transition.html - Feb 15, 2025
- Syria Update https://metagora.blogspot.com/2025/04/syria-update.html - April 18, 2025
Started: Sat, Oct 18, 2025
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