Damascus-SANA
Ehab Ismandar, Director General of the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority, explained that the number of registered projects in the Authority amounted to 7,608 projects in most governorates, with Tartous and Lattakia having the largest percentage of 26 percent each. To the stability of the security situation, while Hama ranked third with 1,653 projects, and Aleppo fourth with 1,131 projects.
With regard to the problems facing small and medium-sized enterprises, Ismandar explained to SANA Economic Bulletin that they vary between several aspects, such as financial, administrative and accounting, in addition to the marketing problems that 72% of enterprises suffer from, which are represented in the lack of places designated for supply, the inability to keep pace with fluctuations in high demand, the lack of specifications and designs, and the absence of oversight Quality and low bargaining power on prices, in addition to production problems related to obtaining raw materials and attracting trained manpower.
He said: A comprehensive and detailed census project for small and medium-sized enterprises has been completed, which aims to provide an updated and integrated framework for economic and social enterprises to be used in various economic statistical surveys, inventory the unorganized sector and its current status, in addition to making the required comparisons with previous economic chains to measure the required economic indicators and provide data. Required to calculate the indicator of sustainable development goals and conduct in-depth studies on the size of the workforce according to the economic activities in these governorates, pointing to the completion of the census in two phases, the first in Damascus and its countryside, Lattakia, Tartous, and Sweida, and the second in Homs, Hama and Aleppo, where 777,957 establishments were counted and enumerated.
In turn, Madian Diab, Director General of the Syrian Investment Authority, pointed out the importance of issuing the new investment law and its executive instructions, which provided incentives and benefits for various investment projects, including small and medium ones, pointing out that there are customs incentives that include exempting imports of machinery, equipment, building materials and machinery, in addition to providing tax incentives that also include Agricultural and animal production projects, sorting and packaging of agricultural products, and non-tax incentives, such as benefiting from support programs provided by the Local Production Support Fund and the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority.
Diab indicated that the new law is expected to provide many job opportunities in all fields and also contribute to increasing local production and the movement of local trade, as well as creating a high level of competition in the local market.
For his part, Eng. Muhammad Fayyad, Director of Industry in Damascus Countryside, explained that small and medium enterprises constitute a lever for the national economy and play an important role in achieving comprehensive economic development, pointing out that the concerned authorities are working to create an enabling business environment for these projects, developing policies to support them and enhancing their competitiveness through the issuance of a number of supporting legislations. Including the new Investment Law No. 18 and Law No. 8 on establishing microfinance banks, in addition to the expansion plan by establishing cities and industrial and craft zones.
Fayyad pointed to the need to create a comprehensive and accurate database for this sector and to provide an integrated legislative and administrative environment that stimulates it that contributes to taking appropriate decisions to support it and expand the establishment of craft and industrial clusters and training centers and work to increase the production of these projects and improve their quality, pointing to the need to focus on organizing and controlling the project financing process. SMEs and facilitate their access to financial services.
He pointed out that the governorate has witnessed a significant growth in the number of licensed industrial and craft facilities since the beginning of this year, in addition to achieving a high percentage in the implementation of facilities and putting them into production, which can be considered better than the years prior to the current crisis, revealing that 240 craft and industrial facilities were implemented and put into work and production with a capital that exceeded 15 billion pounds, with an implementation rate of 30 percent of the total 881 licensed establishments, with a capital of 83 billion pounds since the beginning of this year, while the implementation rate was about 10 percent in 2010.
Louay Hosamou - Amjad Sabbagh