90 pct of Syria's population living in poverty after years of civil war: UN official

HAMILTON: The Director of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Regional Bureau for Arab States on Thursday described the 14-year civil war in Syria as one of the "deadliest conflicts in recent history," with "90 per cent of the population in poverty".

"So far, what has been reported is 618,000 lives lost in the conflict," Abdallah Al Dardari said during a virtual news conference, Anadolu Ajansi reported.

Saying that "13,000 people (have been) forcibly disappeared, and we don't know their fate yet," Al Dardari said more than half of the population has been forcibly displaced, with "7.2 million IDPs (internally displaced persons) and 6 million refugees."

"The economy and the economic impact are also enormous," he said, noting that the gross domestic product (GDP) has halved, with "90 per cent of the population" in poverty.

"That is three times the level of poverty in 2010, and the proportion of people living in extreme poverty today is 66 per cent--six times the level in 2010, which was 11 per cent," he added.

Noting that more than 16 million Syrians still depend on food assistance, he said food insecurity stands at 52 per cent.

On energy production, Al Dardari said: "80 per cent of the country's energy capacity has been lost," and 70 per cent of power plants are damaged.

He noted that Syria has "lost 40 years of human development."

"We believe that there is a chance for recovery and that the UN is working on a transitional and recovery framework," he said.

Al Dardari shared recovery scenarios suggesting a return to 2010 GDP levels in 55 years at 1.3 per cent annual growth or in 10 years at 7.6 per cent growth.

"All these scenarios are difficult, but clearly, we can see that the status quo is untenable. There is no population, and the people of Syria cannot wait 55 years to go back to a situation that was not satisfactory in 2010," he said.

He proposed a $36 billion investment plan and said: "It requires rebuilding the infrastructure. It requires macroeconomic stabilisation, with the exchange rates as they are today, and the foreign reserves depleted from almost $23.5 billion to less than a billion dollars today."

Al Dardari further emphasised the need for massive investments, governance reforms, and international support to achieve economic stability and development in Syria.

Bashar al-Assad, Syria's leader for nearly 25 years, fled to Russia on Dec 8, ending the Baath Party's regime, which had been in power since 1963.

The next day, Ahmed Al-Sharaa, the leader of the new Syrian administration, who was appointed on Jan 29 as president, tasked Mohammed Al-Bashir with forming a government to oversee Syria's transitional period.

-- BERNAMA

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