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IMF-World Bank meetings to discuss restoring support for Syria, UN official says

18 April 2025 18:52 (UTC +04:00)

Officials will discuss major steps to restore support for Syria from the World Bank and International Monetary Fund at spring meetings next week, though sanctions remain a major obstacle to rebuilding the country, a U.N. official said on Friday, APA reports citing Reuters.

Abdallah Dardari, assistant secretary-general for the U.N. Development Programme, told Reuters in Damascus that a roundtable on Syria hosted by the Saudi government and World Bank would take place on the sidelines of the annual meetings of the international financial bodies in Washington.

"It gives a signal to the rest of the world and to the people of Syria that you have these biggest financial institutions ready to support," he said.

Reuters reported last week that Saudi Arabia plans to pay off around $15 million in Syrian arrears to the World Bank, paving the way for millions of dollars in possible grants for reconstruction and other economic support to Syria. Sources have since told Reuters that the Saudis made the payments.

Dardari told Reuters that pay-off would allow the World Bank to support Syria through its International Development Association which provides funds for low-income countries.

"This is a big ticket item for Syria to negotiate with the World Bank. There's also the Special Drawing Rights at the IMF. Again, that's a big ticket item, in addition to all the policy and technical assistance that the Bank and the Fund can provide Syria," Dardari said.

Since former Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad was toppled last year after a nearly 14-year civil war, his successors have called on the international community to lift sanctions imposed against the country during his rule.

So far, most of those sanctions remain in place, with the United States and other Western countries saying the new authorities still need to demonstrate a commitment to peaceful and inclusive rule.

Syria has $563 million in Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) at the IMF. But using the funds requires approval by IMF members holding 85% of the total votes, giving the United States, with 16.5% of the votes, an effective veto.

Syria's finance minister, central bank governor and foreign minister are planning on attending the spring meetings next week, Reuters reported earlier this month.

It would be the first visit to the meetings by a high-level Syrian government delegation in at least two decades, and the first high-level visit by Syria's new authorities to the U.S. Assad's fall.

Washington has handed Syria a list of conditions which, if fulfilled, could lead to some sanctions relief, Reuters reported last month. Dardari said that sanctions remained "a considerable obstacle" to Syria's growth trajectory.

"Syria needs tens of billions of dollars in investments and in technical assistance and so on, and that cannot happen with such heavy sanctions imposed on the country," he said.

"So even suspension of sanctions will not be sufficient. If I were an investor and I want to invest $100 million in a power plant, I cannot take the risk of sanctions resuming next year, so sanctions have to be lifted in a comprehensive manner.