The Syrian Center for Policy Researches has issued a report for the first quarter of 2013 showing that Syria has been set back 35 years in terms of human development as a result of the crisis.
A previous report, issued at the end of 2012 estimated that Syria was set back 20 years as a result of the crisis, meaning the first quarter of 2013 saw a dramatic deterioration in the scale of human development in just the last four months.
Issued by the Syrian Center for Policies Researches and UNRWA, the report, entitled ‘The Syrian Disaster’ said deterioration was most pronounced in the areas of income, education and health.
The report considered that half of the Syrian population are now poor, while 6.7 million Syrians are now living below the poverty line. 3.6 million people are now living in extreme poverty.
The report also said the Syrian economy had now lost $84.4 billion in the first quarter 2013, up from $48.4 billion dollars at the last report.
"Some of the losses are about $8 billion in Gross Domestic Product, about $13 billion in capital and about $7 billion din military expenditure,” the report said.
The report also said that Syria’s public debt, both internal and external had risen from 48% of GDP in 2012 to 65% in the first quarter of the current year, while external public debt was 49% of GDP.
Translated and edited by The Syrian Observer
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