Syria’s Finance Minister Mohammed Yosr Bernieh said the ministry will not finance any project without private-sector participation and will not compete with private businesses.
In an interview with Jihad Azour, Director of the IMF’s Middle East and Central Asia Department, on the sidelines of the World Bank and IMF Annual Meetings in Washington, and published by Al-Sharq on Wednesday, October 15, 2025, Bernieh said all sectors and large-scale projects must be open to private investment. “We want to see the private sector at the forefront of the Syrian economy,” he said.
Bernieh described Syria’s tax system as “the most difficult and complex,” noting it currently includes 33 types of taxes. The Finance Ministry is working to reduce these to three or four to simplify administration and ensure clarity, transparency, and fairness.
He added that funding investment projects from the state budget is not possible at present, saying the ministry has not financed any investment project so far because it must preserve fiscal discipline.
Reconstruction needs are “massive,” requiring tens of billions of dollars. While a World Bank report estimates Syria’s reconstruction at 270 billion dollars, Bernieh said the government is focused on fixing the economy without being fixated on headline figures.
He pointed to the establishment of the Syrian Development Fund to finance infrastructure and reconstruction projects, and said the ministry is working with the World Bank to launch another trust fund to mobilize support from institutions.
Challenges facing the ministry
According to Bernieh, the ministry’s main challenges include:
Restoring trust with the private sector, given a legacy of distrust, especially toward the Finance Ministry, with ongoing talks with chambers of commerce and industry and civil society. Reestablishing financial credibility. Achieving fiscal soundness. Meeting people’s basic needs. Fighting corruption amid salaries that do not reach 100 dollars. Building capacities and skills. Achieving transparency.Immediate needs
Bernieh said the ministry’s immediate needs are to strengthen public financial management, budget preparation, and spending reform, tax law, and reach arrangements with lenders regarding debt.
He noted that a very large number of state-owned enterprises in Syria suffer from poor management and low revenues, and that their reform requires clear prioritization.
Tax system features
On October 1, Bernieh said “the tax on industrialists will be only 10% under the new tax system, and 25% of sales tax proceeds will be allocated to supporting industry and exports.”
In recent days, he has intensified meetings, workshops, and consultations with industrialists, traders, and their representative bodies, the boards of chambers of commerce and industry in Syrian provinces, at the Finance Ministry in preparation for launching the new tax system, as he confirmed on LinkedIn.
The government, he added, is adopting a genuine partnership with chambers of industry and commerce in shaping economic policy, particularly in drafting the new tax system, stressing that no future decisions will be issued without prior dialogue with representatives of the industrial sector.
Bernieh also said there will be a full tax exemption for damaged or destroyed industrial facilities until they are rehabilitated, without clarifying whether this exemption will be codified in the new tax system or was adopted as a standalone decision.
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