Damascus-SANA
The People's Assembly, in its twenty-ninth session of the seventh regular session of the third legislative session, held under the chairmanship of Speaker Hamouda Sabbagh, discussed the current reality of the national economy, and the factors that affected it over the past years.
The Chairman of the Economic Committee, Minister of Economy and Foreign Trade, Dr. Muhammad Samer Al-Khalil, made a presentation before the Council, in which he explained the general economic reality, the changes it was exposed to during the years of war on Syria and before, the negative effects of the unilateral coercive measures imposed on the Syrian people, and the repercussions of the so-called “ Caesar's Law", the Corona pandemic, the Ukrainian crisis, and the sanctions that were imposed on the Russian Federation, which affected the world in general in terms of food and energy, reviewing the current government vision and the measures taken to confront these repercussions, and mitigate their negative effects on the standard of living and services for citizens as much as possible.
Minister Al-Khalil indicated that the previous reasons greatly affected agriculture, industry, investment, tourism and oil, and this was accompanied by changes represented in the high costs of materials and locally produced commodities, as a result of the global rise in the prices of imported raw materials, transport fares, exchange rate fluctuations, and the lack of energy sources and oil derivatives that mainly affected On the electricity sector, the Minister of Economy confirmed that one of the priorities of government work is to enhance supplies of oil derivatives and rationalize fuel consumption, in order to ensure the continuation of the work of priority sectors such as hospitals, bakeries and the communications sector, explaining that the installation of GPS tracking devices in public transport is set to To a large extent, the irregular use of fuel oil, which will contribute to reducing the manipulation of fuel, and directing its distribution to support the productive sectors, especially the agricultural sector, and increase its proportion according to the available possibility.
And he indicated that the Economic Committee continues to work to rationalize spending from foreign exchange, and reduce demand for it through rationalizing imports, reducing them and relying on local production, and adopting barter mechanisms in imports to reduce demand for parts, as well as increasing exports, indicating that the Ministry of Economy is working to reconsider Indicative prices for exports to increase foreign exchange earnings.
In their interventions, a number of council members called for increasing the support provided to the productive sectors, encouraging investment in the field of renewable energies, improving the investment climate and attracting foreign investments, stressing the importance of working to restart the currently suspended battery factory and facilitating the procedures for importing solar panels and lighting supplies, while subjecting them to control according to quality standards. applicable.
The members called for strengthening the government's economic vision in a way that contributes to raising the level of economic growth, rebalancing the trade balance, improving the living conditions of citizens, accelerating the turnover of the production wheel, and expanding the pharmaceutical industries to reduce the import bill.
In his response to the interventions, Minister Al-Khalil explained that the new investment law, in addition to the import substitution program and the interest subsidy program for loans granted to small and medium enterprises, contributes to stimulating investments, noting that all imports are subject to scrutiny in laboratories before entering the local markets, and that financing is not granted. For imports at the official price, except for medicines, wheat and infant formula. An addendum was imposed on imported bananas to support citrus marketing, in addition to an integrated marketing program for citrus disposal. Work is being done to reduce the number of intermediaries between the farmer producer and the consumer in a way that benefits both parties. During the session, the reports of the standing committees were presented. In the Council and the Friendship Committees about electing their offices as a “chairman, vice-chairman and rapporteur.”
The session, which was attended by the Minister of State for People's Assembly Affairs, Abdullah Abdullah, was adjourned to 12:00 p.m. next Tuesday, corresponding to December 13.
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