The Assad regime, in the presence of several ministers and the regime’s central bank governor, held a conference entitled “Finance and Insurance Technology.” The conference was convened by the Finance Minister and held at the Sheraton Hotel in Damascus. Meanwhile, Abed Fadilah, the head of the regime’s Securities and Financial Markets Authority, commented at the conference that government decisions are detached from reality.
On Thursday, a newspaper affiliated with the regime’s media quoted media statements from the Assad regime about the conference. Finance Minister Kenan Yaghi stated that the ministry has begun to automate tax administration and will soon complete the preparation of the projects of electronic stamping and granting financial patents electronically.
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Minister of Communications Iyad al-Khatib said that the national strategy for digital transformation means digitizing data and automating administrative work. The strategy also embraces investing in innovation and work behaviour to improve the efficiency of various sectors. Khatib called for taking advantage of the possibilities available to various parties to reconstruct Syria, as he expressed.
For his part, the central bank governor announced on Wednesday that the Ministry of Finance and Syrian banks are now connected electronically within the digital transformation policy the government is working on. “We are on the doorstep of financial inclusion, and we will not wait for anyone,” he said.
“There are those who will work with us, and we will not wait for those who impose sanctions and others. The financial services sector will become ‘digital’ at the end of this year.”
Fadilah said that the government decisions are detached from reality in a statement made on the sidelines of Wednesday’s conference. He questioned the conference’s rationale, which he describes as inconsistent with providing an investment environment. “We speak as if we are the number one country in the world while, in implementation, we are a fourth-world country.”
“As we attend this conference on communications technology and finance, we read a news story saying that the Agricultural Bank has decided to stop selling fertilizers to farmers at the subsidized price, instead selling them at market rates,” he added.
This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
