Written Report on SYRIA - Research Paper Example

Download file to see previous pages... Bashar al- Assad is the president of Syria at present who has been enthroned after the death of his father Hafiz al- Assad. The Syrian Economy which is based mainly on the petroleum and agriculture sectors experienced a growth of 2.4% estimated in the year 2008 and these sectors together constitute one half of the Gross Domestic Product of the state. An increase in the production of the oil resulted from the shooting price of crude oil has contributed much to the foreign receipts of Syria (Central Intelligence Agency, p.657). Ease of doing business in Syria The governments of Syria were supporting the public sector for decades and the private sector too is given importance during the last few years as a result of the rethinking from the government side, realizing the necessity to boost private sector for the growth of the gross domestic product and to reduce the unemployment rate of the state. Syria was ranked at 143 in the ‘Ease of doing Business Report’ for the year 2010 by the World Bank which placed Syria behind all its neighboring countries. In dealing with construction permits and in starting a new business, the country was given 132nd and 133rd positions respectively. These figures indicate the difficulties faced by the private sector of Syria. The rising costs and the number of procedures involved in the process of issuing construction permits could be seen as the reasons behind this low ranking status. The report gives a clear cut idea regarding the tedious process of obtaining a construction permit which involves 26 procedures takes the duration of 128 days and requires spending 540.3 % of per capita income. However a down fall is observable in the case of the number of procedures and the required spending when compared with the statistics of 2006 whereas the cost required was 697% of the per capita income for the attainment of construction permits (Oxford Business Group, 2010, p.117). In the past few years Damascus, the capital has witnessed a number of economic reforms like opening private banks, reducing lending interest rates, raising prices of certain subsidized items and consolidating exchange rates (Central Intelligence Agency, 2009, p.657). Even though the government has acknowledged that it has carried out a number of reforms in the economy, sufficient legal regulations are expected by the investors in order to promote transparent and effective partnership from the government side and it is true that there is still scope for improvement (Oxford Business Group, 2010, p.117). Foreign business in Syria The trade liberalization and new exchange rate policies have contributed much to the entry of Syria in to the global market and at the same time the state is giving emphasis on the domestic economy in order to promote domestic investors. The number of foreign players entered in the liberalized banking sector appears to be an example of the foreign competition faced by the state. The Syrian economic reforms are carried out in such a way that they permit foreign participation along with providing necessary support and encouragements to the domestic firms focusing on the development of the economy of Syria. As a result of the corporate tax reformation of 2006 which reduced the tax rate from 65% to 28%, the corporate business sector experienced a remarkable change. A number of new business firms came in to operation and the government experienced an overall increase in the revenue. In 2008 another law was passed by Syria in order to support foreign investors. As per the law investors are allowed to rent or buy land in the state for ...Download file to see next pagesRead More