According to an economic study, the Assad regime benefits from between $3 million to $4 million daily from transfers sent by Syrian expatriates to their relatives inside the country.
The study, prepared by the International Center for Studies and Research (MEDAD), put the number of Syrians inside and outside Syria at about 23,193,967 people, according to the most recent statistics of obtained by the Central Bureau of Statistics. Proportionally, it said, “the individual share of expatriate transfers in 2016 was about $69.95.”
It added that in 2016, the World Bank adopted a new number for the global poverty line, as about $1.9 per person per day rather than $1.25.
“This means that for a Syrian family composed of five [persons] to stay at the global poverty line it would require $9.5 per day, or $285 per month,” the center said.
MEDAD said that it had “reviewed the data provided by the World Bank on the value of transfers to Syria from 1977 to 2016, and noticed a clear difference in its value from one year to another.”
According to the center, transfers to Syria were $92.4 million in 1977, and then $636 million in the following year. After that, the value of transfers fluctuated below the level of $900 million until 2006, when it saw a clear increase above the level of $1 billion, then reaching its peak in the years of the Syria revolution.
The center said that, “Syria’s central bank justifies not revealing the true number through its keenness not to reveal any figures related to foreign exchange so that speculators are not able to exploit it to their advantage.”
This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
