Saudi Arabia and Qatar to pay $15 million of Syria’s debt
Gulf countries pledge to pay off Syria’s debt (Photo: Getty Images)
Saudi Arabia and Qatar have pledged to pay Syria's debt to the World Bank. This will remove one of the obstacles to receiving financial assistance from the international lender, according to Bloomberg.
The Gulf countries have announced their readiness to pay off about $15 million of Syria's outstanding debt. This decision came after high-level discussions on post-war reconstruction in Syria, held during the World Bank and IMF meetings last week. The countries aim to support the economic recovery under the leadership of Syria's new president, Ahmed Ash-Sharaa.
At the same time, US sanctions imposed on the administration of former President Bashar al-Assad remain a significant obstacle to Syria receiving the necessary assistance for recovery after the years-long civil war. The conflict, which claimed more than 600,000 lives and displaced millions, nearly halved the country's GDP compared to 2010, the year before the war began. According to media reports, the cost of Syria's reconstruction is estimated at $400 billion.
Last week, Republican congressmen Cory Mills and Marlin Stutzman visited Damascus and met with Ahmed Ash-Sharaa in an unofficial trip organized by influential Syrians living in the US Mills told Bloomberg that he held talks with Ash-Sharaa about the conditions for partially lifting economic sanctions and will deliver a letter from Ash-Sharaa to US President Donald Trump.
