ALIGN="LEFT" SRC="cgtdcc.gif" Border="0" alt="#A"> Center for Global Trade Development
Centre pour le developpement du commerce global
Zentrum für weltweite Handels-Entwicklung
Centro para el desarrollo del Comercio Global
Syria - Trade & Marketing Information
Syria - Trade, Industry & Marketing Information | |
Search by Countries | | Search by industry | | Syria - economy | | Key foreign trade data | | Global Marketplace On-line | | Index
ALIGN="RIGHT" SRC="/cgtd/global/mideast/syria.gif"> Syria - key economic data 


Economy Overview:

    In 1990-93 Syria's state-dominated Ba'thist economy benefited from the Gulf
    war, increased oil production, good weather, and economic deregulation.
    Economic growth averaged roughly 10%. The Gulf war provided Syria an aid
    windfall of nearly $5 billion dollars from Arab, European, and Japanese
    donors. However, the benefits of the 1990-93 boom were not evenly
    distributed and the gap between rich and poor is widening. A nationwide
    financial scandal and increasing inflation were accompanied by a decline in
    GDP growth to 4% in 1994. For the long run, Syria's economy is still saddled
    with a large number of poorly performing public sector firms, and industrial
    productivity remains to be improved. Oil production is likely to fall off
    dramatically by the end of the decade. Unemployment will become a problem
    for the government when the more than 60% of the population under the age of
    20 enter the labor force.


National product:
    GDP - purchasing power parity - $74.4 billion (1994 est.)
National product real growth rate:
    4% (1994 est.)
National product per capita:
    $5,000 (1994 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
    16.3% (1993 est.)
Unemployment rate:
    7.5% (1993 est.)
Budget:
    NA



Industrial production:

    growth rate NA%
Electricity:
  capacity:
    4,160,000 kW
  production:
    13.2 billion kWh
  consumption per capita:
    865 kWh (1993)



Economic Activity


Industries:

    textiles, food processing, beverages, tobacco, phosphate rock mining,
    petroleum

Agriculture:
    accounts for 30% of GDP and one-third of labor force; all major crops
    (wheat, barley, cotton, lentils, chickpeas) grown mainly on rain-watered
    land causing wide swings in production; animal products - beef, lamb, eggs,
    poultry, milk; not self-sufficient in grain or livestock products
Syria - key foreign trade data 



Exports:

    $3.6 billion (f.o.b., 1994 est.)
  Commodities:
    petroleum 53%, textiles 22%, cotton, fruits and vegetables, wheat, barley,
    chickens
   Major Trade Partners::
    EC 48%, former CEMA countries 24%, Arab countries 18% (1991)



Imports:

    $4 billion (c.i.f., 1994 est.)
  Commodities:
    foodstuffs 21%, metal products 17%, machinery 15%
   Major Trade Partners::
    EC 37%, former CEMA countries 15%, US and Canada 10% (1991)
External debt:
    $19.4 billion (1993 est.)
Syria - Trade, Industry & Marketing information

Customized business information

Business Directories