"Al-Watan" Pro-Assad
newspapers said that the preliminary estimates for the recent salary increase
will cost the Syrian Treasury 86 billion Syrian pounds, an amount
approximately 6%
of the total funds for the budget of 2013.
Accordingly, the salaries is equivalent to 287 billion S.P with average increase between 20 to 40%, depending on that the Treasury has to provide
86 billion
pounds to cover the last increase, what makes the total salaries for 1.3
million employees, equal 373 billion pounds.
Prior
to the increase, the salaries and wages equivalent to 20% of the budget
of 2013, amounting to 1383 billion
pounds, so the increase will raise the share of salaries from the budget to 26% .
Al-Assad issued on Saturday
legislative decrees stipulating for increasing monthly salaries of civil and
military personnel,'' Syrian News Agency (SANA) said.
Analysts
said the increasing had come days after the Iranian financial support for the
Assad regime, '' Iran has stepped in to help Syria raise the value of its
currency after it plummeted following the United States announcing plans to arm
Syrian rebels.'' UPI revealed recently.
The
legislative decree No. 39 for 2013 stipulated
for increasing monthly pensions of civil and military personnel. Another decree
issued legislative decree No. 38 for 2013 stipulating
for increasing monthly salaries of civil and military state employees.
The
promised increasing has come as result for the economic collapse of Syrian
resources after 27
months of revolution.
Before the Syrian civil war started
more than two years ago, the Syrian pound was worth about 70 U.S. dollars;
however, last week it was trading at 170 dollars, The New York Times
reported.
To
help bolster the value of its currency, Adib Mayalah, the governor of Syria's
Central Bank, announced Tuesday it will tap into a $1 billion credit
line provided by Iran.
However,
experts say the move will be a temporary fix, as Iran is also facing heavy
financial restrictions.
Syria's
economy will shrink by about 15 percent this year compared to a
contraction of 20
percent in 2012 and 6 percent in 2011, the Institute of International Finance
(IIF) said in a report earlier this month.
The economy's nominal size is projected
to drop to US$27bn
in 2013 compared
with US$57.5bn
in 2010 prior
to the revolt against the Syrian leader, as tourism receipts and foreign direct
investment dry up, the IIF said.
A
Syrian expatriate currency market trader, speaking on the condition of
anonymity, said he thinks the credit line from Iran is a psychological tool and
might not even exist. The Syrian pound going up in value would be an indicator
of this theory, he said.
"Unless
they're able to knock it back to 150,
I would imagine it would just be a cosmetic process," he said. "I'm
personally extremely skeptical."
Tourism receipts accounted for around 11 percent
of gross domestic product in 2010, while FDI in 2010 was at US$1.5bn.
The country's fiscal deficit, financed
mostly by domestic banks, is forecast to widen to 13 percent of GDP
in 2013 compared
with 16.3 percent
last year as the government increases spending and tax revenue and oil receipts
decline, the IIF said.
Syria's foreign currency reserves are
projected to plunge to US$2.1bn, enough to cover one month of
imports, compared with US$5.6bn at the end of last year, the
IIF said. The central bank had about US$18bn in foreign currency reserves
prior to the outbreak of violence in the southern part of the country.
Eqtsad (Business newspaper) is affiliated with Zaman Alwasl
Editing
by Mohamed Hamdan
Comments About This Article
Please fill the fields below.