d Arab Republic where the two stars
represented the constituent states of Syria and Egypt; similar to
the flag of Yemen, which has a plain white band, Iraq, which has
three green stars (plus an Arabic inscription) in a horizontal line
centered in the white band, and that of Egypt, which has a gold
Eagle of Saladin centered in the white band; the current design
dates to 1980

Economy Syria

Economy - overview:
Syria's predominantly statist economy lately has been growing more
slowly than its 2.4% annual population growth rate. Recent
legislation allows private banks to operate in Syria, although a
private banking sector will take years and further government
cooperation to develop. Factors, including the war between the
US-led coalition and Iraq, probably drove real annual GDP growth
levels back below 1% in 2003 following growth of 3.5% in 2001 and
4.5% in 2002. A long-run economic constraint is the pressure on
water supplies caused by rapid population growth, industrial
expansion, and increased water pollution.

GDP:
purchasing power parity - $58.01 billion (2003 est.)

GDP - real growth rate:
0.9% (2003 est.)

GDP - per capita:
purchasing power parity - $3,300 (2003 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 28.5%
industry: 29.4%
services: 42.1% (2003 est.)

Investment (gross fixed):
13.6% of GDP (2003)

Population below poverty line:
20% (2003 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: NA
highest 10%: NA

Inflation rate (consumer prices):
1.5% (2003 est.)

Labor force:
4.97 million (2003 est.)

Labor force - by occupation:
agriculture, industry, services NA

Unemployment rate:
20% (2002 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $6.106 billion
expenditures: $7.397 billion, including capital expenditures of $3.6
billion (2003 est.)

Public debt:
89% of GDP (2003)

Agriculture - products:
wheat, barley, cotton, lentils, chickpeas, olives, sugar beets;
beef, mutton, eggs, poultry, milk

Industries:
petroleum, textiles, food processing, beverages, tobacco, phosphate
rock mining

Industrial production growth rate:
NA

Electricity - production:
23.26 billion kWh (2001)

Electricity - consumption:
21.63 billion kWh (2001)

Electricity - exports:
0 kWh (2001)

Electricity - imports:
0 kWh (2001)

Oil - production:
522,700 bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - consumption:
26