The protest movement rocking Syria for over a month, and the security forces’ brutal and increasingly militarised response to it, are already exposing vulnerabilities in the Syrian economy.
Decades of central planning under the Ba’ath party’s rule have left Syria with few competitive industries and soaring unemployment. Official estimates put the unemployment rate at about 8 per cent, but analysts say the real figure is much higher.
“(The government’s) plan was foreign investment and tourism, both of which don’t proliferate if you have a civil war,” said Joshua Landis, a Syria expert at Oklahoma University. “Eventually things will fall apart.”
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