The cost of the war was revealed after a two day meeting of some 50 Syrian and international experts from the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) meeting in Lebanon. The group said it will issue a final report in September.
Currently however, the “volume of destruction in physical capital and its sectoral distribution” is estimated at more than $388 billion (334 billion euros), according the group of economic analysts, AFP reported.
The figure does not include “human losses resulting from deaths or the loss of human competences and skilled labor due to displacement, which were considered the most important enablers of the Syrian economy”.
Since last year a considerable number of refugees and displaced persons have been returning to their homes to rebuild. It is estimated that over half of Syria’s pre-war population either fled the country or was internally displaced.
Prior to 2011 and the start of the foreign-funded unrest, Syria was a fast-growing, lower-middle-income country with an average annual GDP growth of 4.3 percent
A study produced by the World Bank, entitled The Toll of War: The Economic and Social Consequences of the Conflict in Syria, found that by 2017 Syria’s GDP had contracted by an estimated 63 percent, amounting to a cumulative loss of $226 billion, about four times the 2010 GDP.
FAIR representatives noted that the new UN ESCWA report underscores that economic warfare had been a key element in US plans for regime change.
“One of the intended effects of the international war on Syria: the US, UK, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Qatar weren’t able to overthrow the Syrian government, but they were able to bleed the country of c. $400 billion. And it’s the people who suffer.”
