Impact On Syrian Economy & Society
In some ways, the Syrian economy has benefited from the arrival of the Iraqis, causing the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to go as far as crediting the refugees for propelling the recovery of the Syrian economy beginning in 2004. According to one of the government's chief economists, Syria's GDP doubled between 2004 and 2010 to $60 billion dollars. The Iraqis have raised national consumption, invested in Syrian businesses, and stimulated the housing market, while cross border trade has opened up new markets for Syrian industries in Iraq. After the boon to Syrian manufacturing and commercial activity, the Syrian Ministry of Finance reported that unemployment among Syrian citizens had fallen substantially. Yet while the economic indicators suggest Syria has benefited from the arrival of the Iraqis, the rewards have only been enjoyed by a small percentage of the population. The costs induced by rising inflation, real estate prices, and demand for subsidized goods has been shouldered by Syrian consumers and the state budget. Prices for groceries and transportation have spiraled upward, while demand has also spiked for electricity, gas, and water. Nevertheless, it is difficult to tell how much Syria's changing economic conditions are directly related to the refugees rather than the state's undergoing structural adjustment programs, market reforms, and decreasing oil revenues. Regardless, Syrian officials still complained in 2007 that the Iraqi refugees had cost the state over $1 billion dollars.
Read more about this topic: Iraqis In Syria
Famous quotes containing the words impact, syrian, economy and/or society:
“Television does not dominate or insist, as movies do. It is not sensational, but taken for granted. Insistence would destroy it, for its message is so dire that it relies on being the background drone that counters silence. For most of us, it is something turned on and off as we would the light. It is a service, not a luxury or a thing of choice.”
—David Thomson, U.S. film historian. America in the Dark: The Impact of Hollywood Films on American Culture, ch. 8, William Morrow (1977)
“If in that Syrian garden, ages slain,
You sleep, and know not you are dead in vain,
Nor even in dreams behold how dark and bright
Ascends in smoke and fire by day and night
The hate you died to quench and could but fan,
Sleep well and see no morning, son of man.”
—A.E. (Alfred Edward)
“I favor the policy of economy, not because I wish to save money, but because I wish to save people. The men and women of this country who toil are the ones who bear the cost of the Government. Every dollar that we carelessly waste means that their life will be so much the more meager. Every dollar that we prudently save means that their life will be so much the more abundant. Economy is idealism in its most practical terms.”
—Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933)
“In a town-meeting, the great secret of political science was uncovered, and the problem solved, how to give every individual his fair weight in the government, without any disorder from numbers. In a town-meeting, the roots of society were reached. Here the rich gave counsel, but the poor also; and moreover, the just and the unjust.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)