Syria’s second telecom operator MTN-Syria has been placed under the judicial custody of a minority stakeholder with reported links to the country’s First Lady Asma Al-Assad, as the government seeks to exert greater control over the company.

Syrian president Bashar Al-Assad has ratified a loan agreement with the Export-Bank of Malaysia for the financing of sewage and water projects by a Malaysian company, in a rare instance of foreign involvement in the country’s wartime economy.

Inflation hit a record 133.7 percent in Syria last July, the largest year-on-year increase in decades in the prices of commodities and services, according to recently released official data.

The main index of the Syrian stock exchange jumped some 19 percent last month crossing both the 9,000 and 10,000 levels for the first time.