Minister of Finance forms committee to study bad loans at government banks

Minister of Finance Mohammad Yoser Barnieh announced the formation of an advisory committee to study the reality and status of non-performing loans at government banks and to work on presenting practical and legal proposals to address these loan cases. This committee will preserve the rights of banks and public funds, while reducing the burden on defaulters, through the provision of incentive programs and exemptions.

Barnieh stated in a post on his personal Facebook page that the committee he formed is headed by a judge specializing in financial cases and includes banking experts, business sector experts, and legal experts, in addition to representatives from the Ministry of Finance, the Central Bank of Syria, and the Central Agency for Financial Control.

He pointed out that addressing these loans and cases in a fair and just manner will achieve several important goals, most notably:

- Providing distressed borrowers with the opportunity to settle their debts fairly.

- Enabling those in distress to resume their activities and businesses, which will contribute to revitalizing the economic cycle and lifting liens against them and their families.

- Preserving public funds and returning a significant portion of banks' resources, enabling these banks to reinvest these proceeds in economic activity.

- Partially contributing to solving the liquidity problem through the funds returned to banks.

- Eliminating the prevalent sources of extortion and corruption in dealing with defaulters.

- Cleaning up the financing portfolios of government banks and contributing to improving solvency indicators.

- Supporting opportunities for financial stability and reducing the risks caused by these non-performing debts.

- Contributing to the return of a large number of businessmen and borrowers to Syria.

He concluded his post by noting that addressing this issue will be undertaken in parallel with other enhanced reforms in the financial and banking sector.

The minister did not provide any data on the size of state-owned banks' non-performing loans, most of which belong to businessmen close to the regime. However, according to a previous article published in the official Al-Thawra newspaper about four months ago, the newspaper indicated that the size of the loans exceeded 300 billion Syrian pounds.