Press Release No. 25/377

Damascus, Syria: A staff team from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), led by Ron van Rooden, visited Damascus from November 10–13, 2025, to discuss the authorities’ fiscal and financial sector reform priorities, as well as supporting technical assistance activities. At the conclusion of the mission, Mr. van Rooden issued the following statement:

“Syria’s economy is showing signs of recovery and improving prospects, reflecting the improvement in consumer and investor sentiment under Syria’s new regime, Syria’s gradual re-integration with the regional and global economy as sanctions are being lifted, and the return of more than one million refugees. The authorities have been able to adopt a tight fiscal and monetary stance within the many constraints they face, with a view to ensuring economic and financial stability.

“Against this backdrop, fiscal discussions focused on the formulation of the 2026 government budget, which aims to increase fiscal space for meeting essential needs, including for social sectors to support the most vulnerable, while ensuring that it is based on ambitious but realistic revenue and financing assumptions. IMF staff will provide extensive technical assistance to strengthen the fiscal framework by helping to: (i) improve public financial management and revenue administration; (ii) finalize new tax legislation; and (iii) develop a strategy to address Syria’s legacy debts and strengthen debt management. In this context, it is important that the new tax regime will be simple, competitive, and easy to administer, while avoiding generous exemptions and creating room for arbitration and avoidance. Similarly, as the authorities restructure state-owned enterprises and pursue large investment projects with the private sector, it is important to adhere to good governance standards and ensure that the Ministry of Finance plays a key role in assessing and controlling potential contingent liabilities.

“Staff also initiated discussions on developing an appropriate monetary policy framework that would support ensuring low and stable inflation, while considering the current challenges in the financial system. In this regard, IMF staff will provide technical assistance to support the authorities with: (i) the formulation of new financial sector legislation and regulation; (ii) the rehabilitation of the payment and banking systems, to ensure that the financial system can facilitate safe and efficient payments, banks can resume their crucial role in financial intermediation and support the economic recovery; and (iii) rebuilding capacity at the central bank to ensure it can effectively implement monetary policy and supervise the financial system.

“Reliable economic data remain scarce but are essential for the authorities to be able to formulate, implement, and monitor economic policies. Technical assistance will focus on improving statistics, which would also help pave the way for the resumption of Article IV consultations with Syria—the last Article IV consultation with Syria was concluded in 2009. Technical support is already underway to improve national accounts data and will be expanded to cover price, balance of payments, government finance, and financial statistics.

“The mission reaffirmed the IMF’s commitment to support the authorities in their efforts to rehabilitate Syria’s economy and key economic institutions. Staff discussed with the authorities detailed reform roadmaps for the fiscal and financial sector, which will also help facilitate coordination among development partners.    

“The staff team is grateful to the authorities for the candid and constructive discussions, and for their warm hospitality during this mission. The team met with Minister of Finance Yisr Barnieh, Governor of the Central Bank of Syria Abdulkader Husrieh, and other senior officials.”