Traders in Syria’s Deir ez-Zor hope investment companies improve economic situation
DEIR EZ-ZOR, Syria (North Press) – Dealers in Deir ez-Zor, east Syria, expressed their hope that the US decision to allow companies to invest in northeast Syria will improve the economic situation.
On May 12, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) today issued Syria General License (GL) 22, authorizing specific economic activities in certain non-government-held areas of northeast and northwest Syria.
Musa al-Jazza’, a building materials trader from Deir ez-Zor governorate, said that lifting the Caesar Act sanctions will facilitate the movement of transport at the border crossings without. This will reduce the burdens on the affected population to be able to purchase building supplies.
The price of a cement block is about 1,000 Syrian pounds, and a ton of iron is about 920 dollars, while a ton of cement is sold at about 93 dollars, according to traders.
Manji Abdullatif, a food trader from Deir ez-Zor government said that the US decision to lift Caesar Act sanctions “will have positive impact on trade and ease burdens on the population, in terms of changes in prices to match the population’s living reality.”
The entry of foreign companies to invest in the region “will contribute to facilitating commercial work at lower costs than before. It will create an environment of competition among traders in terms of reducing prices,” he told North Press.
The countryside of Deir ez-Zor witnesses deteriorating economic conditions and almost paralyzed commercial movement, due to an unprecedented rise in the prices of materials at all levels.
Lifting the sanctions would “avoid paying additional taxes and fees, which was a major obstacle in the rise in prices and differences between commodities. This would make it easier for the traders to import goods without incurring high costs other than the due costs,” Abdullatif told North Press.
Salman Barudo, the co-chair of Economy and Agriculture Board of the AANES, said that the investment law, when issued, would give confidence to investors and encourage them to invest.
“Foreign companies were afraid of making investments in the region because of the US sanctions imposed on the Syrian government,” Barudo added to North Press.