Damascus-SANA
In response to the developments in the Ukrainian crisis file and the launch of a military operation by the Russian ally to maintain Russia's national security and the stability of global security, the Council of Ministers held an exceptional mini-session headed by Eng. Hussein Arnous with the aim of planning in advance to manage the potential repercussions and study scenarios to deal with them to avoid them or reduce their impact on the economic and service situation in the country. Syria and dealing with any economic fluctuations that may affect the Syrian local market directly or indirectly, depending on changes that may affect the global market, especially in the field of energy, food and global transport, especially since the Syrian economy is suffering mainly from many difficulties.As a result of the shortage of basic resources, especially oil, wheat and energy means, and this severe shortage is caused by the occupation of these resources by the American forces in the east and north of the country, in addition to Syria’s loss of tens of billions of dollars during the past years of the war, which came out of the Syrian banks and put them in place. Their owners are in Lebanese banks.
As a result of the recent developments, most notably the accelerating rise in oil prices, which affects Syrian supplies of oil derivatives and the increase in the costs of these supplies, as well as the rise in the costs of global transport wages, which will also reflect an increase in the costs of supplies in addition to the rise in metal prices and the accompanying rise in the prices of industries and their products significantly at the level And all of this will affect an increase in global food prices and the components of the consumer basket of consumers.
During the meeting, work items were set to deal with this new situation for a period of two months, during which periodic meetings will be held to assess the situation and take the necessary measures regarding its developments, according to five levels summarized as follows:
Taking the necessary measures to manage the available stocks of basic materials (wheat, sugar, oil, rice and potato) during the next two months and the requirements to strengthen it and to check the levels of distribution of these materials and their rationalization to ensure the sustainability of their availability and to study all options for supplying them by various means.
Develop a list of the most necessary basic supplies during the next two months, agree on supply contracts, follow up and stress on suppliers to complete the site as soon as possible.
Reviewing the materials that are exported and restricting exports during the next two months for materials that can contribute to market stability such as olive oil, preserved foodstuffs and other materials, as well as managing the market needs of medicines
Studying the possibility of reducing some indicative prices for some basic materials in order to reduce the prices of these materials in the local market
Develop a plan for distributing all oil derivatives during the next two months to ensure orderliness in the distribution and rationalize this process for the necessary sectors and develop a plan to gradually reduce the quantities that are supplied to the market and study the reality of supplies and emphasize the importance of quickly addressing the issue of excluding segments from subsidies according to what has been approved to benefit from its repercussions Positive on the level of savings in the consumption of subsidized materials.
On the financial and banking level, the Council of Ministers decided the following:
Tightening control over the exchange market to ensure its stability during the next two months, following up on expected developments, and taking the necessary measures regarding them
Rationalizing the allocation of plots during this period to meet the most necessary needs and setting appropriate time and monetary programming to finance wheat contracts as a strategic material
Work to rationalize public spending at the present time so that it is limited to priorities during this period, in order not to increase the deficit financing
Emphasis on monitoring the markets and unifying efforts to monitor them, ensure that prices are controlled, and prevent any form of monopoly and manipulation of market stability.
The meeting of the concerned government group included the Minister of Local Administration and Environment - Chairman of the Services and Infrastructure Committee - Minister of Economy and Foreign Trade - Chairman of the Economic Committee - Minister of Oil and Mineral Resources - Chairman of the Resources and Energy Committee - Minister of Finance - Minister of Transport - Minister of Internal Trade and Consumer Protection - Secretary-General of the Presidency of the Council Ministers - Chairman of the Planning and International Cooperation Commission - Governor of the Central Bank of Syria.
These additional steps come as an imperative in line with the requirements of the stage, especially since managing the crisis that the country is experiencing due to the repercussions of the war and the new political and military developments that are taking place requires measures to avoid any economic risks that may affect the local market directly.