1. centralized control of what is, essentially a failed, command economy
2. unfulfilled, stalled, abandoned, and ill-conceived political and economic reform
3. blowback from smuggling deals with the Iraq prior to OIF
4. declining oil production
5. a sharp decline in private investments and a deteriorating balance of payments
6. demographic pressure coupled with an inadequately trained and unevenly educated workforce
7. delays in the ratification of Syria's "Association Agreement" with its largest trading partner, the EU
8. fear of UN-sponsored economic sanctions for non-compliance with the Hariri investigation
9. cronyism, corruption, and nepotism;
10. a general lack of both market-friendly institutions and the political will to bring them about and
11. a general climate of fear and loathing

The one bright spot, it seems, is the agricultural sector. According the the report:

Thanks to sustained capital investment, infrastructure development, subsidies of inputs and price supports, Syria has gone from a net importer of many agricultural products to an exporter of cotton, fruits, vegetables, and other foodstuffs. One of the prime reasons for this turnaround has been the government's investment in irrigation systems in northern and northeastern Syria - part of a plan to increase irrigated farmland by 38 percent over the next decade. Syrian exports reflect this turnaround. Apart from oil, which accounted for 68 percent of export receipts in 2004 and therefore remains the main source of foreign earning, agriculture and animal husbandry accounted for close to 15 percent of export earning.

But even this is not so bright as the results seem to be due to policies that shield Syrian farmers from, rather than prepare them to deal with, market forces.The contrast between the Iraqi and Syrian economic policies could not be more different. Iraq is undertaking drastic political and economic reform to speed its return to the community of nations, albeit on a road paved at considerable expense to American taxpayers. Damascus, with a former opthamologist at the wheel, is careening down the road to serfdom, in a jallopy running on fumes, in reverse, blind to the growing number of its citizens on the shoulder, well-fed but not free, holding signs like the one on the right.



See also: "The Road to Ruin via Damascus" | "The Dilemma of the Syrian Opposition" | "Syrian Regime Change" | " Assad's Inner Circle Embezzled $20 Billion" | The Baath's Legacy |

syria | Middle East | assad | Hariri |