(Reuters) – Syria would need $11.5 billion in reconstruction funds in the first six months after the collapse of President Bashar al-Assad’s rule, mainly to support its currency and pay public sector wages, the main Syrian opposition said on Thursday.
The Syrian National Council, whose international support has been undermined by internal squabbling and power struggles, presented an economic reconstruction plan at a meeting of the Friends of Syria working group for economic recovery and development in the United Arab Emirates.
Assad’s military crackdown on the 14-month revolt against him, now coupled with an armed insurgency, is showing no signs of relenting.
"The anticipated cost of reconstruction in the first six months following the collapse of the regime would be $11.5 billion," Osama Kadi from the SNC’s economic office told reporters in Abu Dhabi.
"This will be primarily to support the currency since the government has already liquidated most of Syria’s foreign currency reserves, as well as programs to combat unemployment and to upgrade skills and food subsidies."
The economic reconstruction plan would help to persuade Syrians wavering to join the opposition that it was thinking of their long-term interests, Farah Attasi, a member of the Syrian National Bloc, said.
"We hope that by designing such an economic vision for the future of Syria, people inside know that we are thinking about the next day, that we are thinking beyond our main focus, the main target, which is the regime collapse," she said.
Germany and the UAE announced they had partnered up to establish a joint reconstruction initiative for Syria.
Both countries had pledged initially to provide around 600,000 euros ($755,000) each towards the establishment of a secretariat that would lead the project, said Clemens von Goetze, an official from the German Foreign Ministry. ($1 = 0.7948 euros)
(Reporting by Raissa Kasolowsky and Layla Maghribi; Editing by Michael Roddy)
First published on Reuters
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