Syria and Saudi Arabia will sign the First Package as Talks Continue over $1.5 Billion Funding

Syria is negotiating with Saudi Arabia on financing projects estimated at about $1.5 billion over the next few months, and is preparing to sign the first $406 million package in a few days. This is in line with Damascus’ efforts to restore funding from international institutions and attract investments to aid to economic rehabilitation after years of war.

Syrian Finance Minister Mohammed Yasser Baranieh told colleague Noor Ammasha in an interview on the sidelines of the IMF and World Bank meetings in Bangkok that preliminary talks with the Saudi Development Fund focus on funding projects worth up to $1.5 billion in total, to be implemented gradually in the next few months.

He said the first package, $406 million, was the “first phase” and would be signed “in a few days,” and another bundle of projects was under investigation.

The Saudi funding, which the minister described as easy and gracious loans, will go to various sectors, including energy, health, housing, infrastructure, and roads, as well as projects to prepare the ground for Syrians’ return from camps to their cities and villages by providing schools, hospitals, and essential services.

Baranieh told Al-Monitor that economic and financial cooperation with Saudi Arabia is not limited to this funding, and described the relationship between the two nations as “strategic,” highlighting the help the kingdom offers Syria in dealing with international organisations.

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