The war in Syria is costing the Syrian economy more than $220 billion
$226 billion
Syria registered $226 billion in cumulative GDP losses since the Syrian civil war started in 2011, according to the World Bank.
Published | Photo by Reuters/Abdalrhman Ismail
The Syrian economy, based on agriculture, manufacturing, retail, and tourism, was healthy before the conflict started, with GDP at $60 billion in 2010.
The country was going through a process of liberalization. The government started to welcome private banks in 2004 and it reopened the stock exchange in 2009.
But that ended with the war. On top of all the suffering that it caused, the country’s economy collapsed. GDP fell to $14 billion in 2015.
Revenue from oil, an important source of money for the government, also decreased, as territory (and oil wells) were lost to the Islamic State.
Since then, the conflict has resulted in massive unemployment, with three out of every four adult Syrians either unemployed or out of school and training.
The war also destroyed a quarter of homes and half of hospitals and schools in the country.
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