Syria's economic pains far from over despite Assad's ouster
DAMASCUS

Shoppers fill the old city market in Damascus, Syria, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025
Although Syrian President Bashar Assad was toppled last month in a lightning insurgency, Syria’s dire economic conditions that protesters decried have not changed.
The economy has been battered by corruption and 13 years of civil war. Coupled with international sanctions and mismanagement, inflation skyrocketed, pulling some 90 percent of the country into poverty. Over half the population, some 12 million people, don’t know where their next meal will come from, according to the U.N. World Food Program.
With no sign of a full-scale withdrawal of international sanctions and continuing caution among potential overseas investors, the honeymoon period for the country's new rulers could be short-lived.
For years, Syrian families have relied on humanitarian aid and remittances from family members living abroad to survive.
On top of the gargantuan costs of rebuilding the country’s destroyed electricity, water and road infrastructure, money is needed to restore its battered agriculture and industrial sectors to make its hobbled economy productive again.
The United Nations in 2017 estimated that it would cost at least $250 billion to rebuild Syria. Some experts now say that number could reach at least $400 billion.
Wealthy Gulf countries have pledged to build economic partnerships with Syria’s new interim rulers, while Washington has eased some restrictions without fully lifting its sanctions. The U.S. Treasury Department issued a six-month license authorizing some transactions with Syria’s interim government. While it includes some energy sales, Syrians say it isn't enough.
Sinan Hatahet, an economic researcher at the Washington-based Atlantic Council think tank, said the U.S. actions were the “bare minimum” needed to show good faith to Damascus and aren't enough to help Syria jumpstart its economy.
“It doesn’t help the private sector to engage,” Hatahet said. “The restrictions on trade, the restrictions on reconstruction, on rebuilding the infrastructure are still there.”
While countries are hesitant to make more impactful decisions as they hope for a peaceful political transition, many Syrians say the economy can’t wait.
“Without jobs, without huge flows of money and investments … these families have no way of making ends meet,” Hatahet said.
In the Syrian capital’s bustling old marketplace, crowds of people pack the narrow passageways as the country's new de facto flag is draped over the crowded stalls.
Merchants say the atmosphere is pleasant and celebratory, but nobody is buying anything.
People stop to smell the aromatic and colorful spices or pose for photos next to masked fighters from the ruling Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group guarding the market’s entrances.
“We’re very happy with our liberation, thank God, but there are few jobs,” said Walid Naoura, who works with his father at a clothing shop.
“Yes, we’ve been relieved of thuggery and oppression, but all these people here have come to celebrate but not to buy anything because things are expensive.”