BEIRUT: Syria’s government has agreed a 2014 budget of 1.39 trillion pounds ($8.18bn), state news agency SANA said yesterday, a marginal increase on this year’s spending despite the economic devastation wrought by more than two years of civil war.
The agency gave no breakdown of spending, which it said was 7bn pounds higher than the 2013 budget, but it quoted Prime Minister Wael Al Halki as saying it would focus spending on education, health and agriculture sectors. Syria’s civil war has ruined the country’s economy, causing tens of billions of dollars of damage and depriving it of crucial tourism and oil export revenues.
Reuters
