Syria’s three major industrial cities saw a jump in the value of newly licensed projects last year, although the number of jobs created and the number of projects beginning construction slowed down, according to official data.

The sharp rise in the cost of raw materials is leading to a shortage of paper products, including schoolbooks, despite a recent increase in local production capacity.

Syria’s free trade zones recorded a decrease in their activity in 2019, a worrying development given the low base of economic activity at the start of the year.

The General Organization of Free Zones (GOFZ) said that the revenues it generated during the first five months of this year increased by 25 percent compared to the same period of last year, although they remain very small relative to their 2010 levels.

The first private sector photovoltaic solar power plant has started producing in the Industrial City of Hessia (ICH) and has been connected to the national electricity grid, a government official has said.

Official data provide a mixed picture of the state of Syria’s industrial cities and zones.

A private sector company owned by influential investors has gained a quasi-monopoly on the import into Syria of oil products, highlighting the key role this company plays as the government battles to reduce shortages.

According to a local media, a Spanish company is considering supplying a photovoltaic power station in Syria, a very rare example of western interest in the Syrian economy.

A Presidential decree has exempted Syrian manufacturers from the payment of fees for the construction of their factories.

Read

While a Syrian company announced last week the beginning of production and sale of two new cars assembled locally, the Government still struggles to attract back manufacturers.

The Syrian Investment Agency licensed 40 projects in the first eight months of the year, most of them located around Damascus and in the coastal area.

Two new industrial areas to accommodate manufacturing investments have been established in the coastal city of Lattakia by the Ministry of Local Administration.

The Syrian government is accusing Turkey of being complicit in the looting and transfer of equipment to its territory of some 1,000 factories in Aleppo.

The volume of trade in Syria’s free trade zones reached SYP 56 billion in the first ten months of the year, a figure that marks a strong decline from previous years.

Hundreds of manufacturing plants located in the industrial cities of Aleppo and Deir-ez-Zor have stopped functioning because of the rising insecurity leading to potentially severe shortages of products in the local market including medicines.

The Ministry of Local Administration has announced that it is scrapping penalties levied on investors in the country’s industrial cities.

Read

The Public Establishment for Electricity Generation and Transmission (PEEGT) is embarking on a large development programme, which will see over 4,500 MW of generating capacity added in the coming three years.

Two new industrial areas are going to be built in Deir-ez-Zor, the eastern Syrian province, and Idlib, in the north west of the country.

The Industrial Bank of Syria has gained some breathing space and will be on the offensive again this year, according to Anis Al-Maaraoui, Director General of the Bank.