The Arab head of the UN Development Program (UNDP) on Thursday described the 14-year civil war in Syria as one of the "deadliest conflicts in recent history," with “90% of the population” in poverty.”
"So far, what has been reported is 618,000," lives lost in the conflict, Abdallah Al Dardari said during a virtual news conference.
Saying that "13,000 people forcibly disappeared, and we don't know their fate yet," Al Dardari said more than half of the population is forcibly displaced, "with 7.2 million IDPs (internally displaced persons) and 6 million refugees."
"The economy and the economic impact is also enormous," he said, noting that the gross domestic product (GDP) has halved with “90% of the population" in poverty.
"That is three times the level of poverty of 2010 and living in extreme poverty today is 66% of the population, which is six times the level of 2010, which was 11% of the population," he added.
Noting that more than 16 million Syrians still depend on food assistance, he said food insecurity is at 52%.
On energy production, Al Dardari said: "80% of the country's energy capacity has been lost," and 70% of power plants are damaged.
He noted that Syria has "lost 40 years of human development."
"We believe that there is a chance for recovery, and that the UN is working on a transitional and recovery framework," he said.
Al Dardari shared recovery scenarios that suggested a return to 2010 GDP levels in 55 years at 1.3% annual growth or in 10 years at 7.6% growth.
"All these scenarios are difficult, but clearly we can see that the status quo is untenable. There is no population, and people of Syria cannot wait 55 years to go back to a situation that was not satisfactory in 2010," he said.
He proposed a $36 billion investment plan and said: "It requires rebuilding the infrastructure. It requires macroeconomic stabilization, with the exchange rates as it is today, and the foreign reserves depleted from almost $23.5 billion to less than a billion dollars today."
Al Dardari further emphasized the need for massive investments, governance reforms and international support to achieve economic stability and development in Syria.
Bashar Assad, Syria’s leader for nearly 25 years, fled to Russia on Dec. 8, ending the Baath Party’s regime, which had been in power since 1963.
The next day, Ahmed Al-Sharaa, the leader of the new Syrian administration, who was appointed Jan. 29 as president, tasked Mohammed Al-Bashir with forming a government to oversee Syria’s transitional period.
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