Syria is discussing with the World Bank expanding grants and supporting reconstruction

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The Syrian Minister of Finance, Muhammad Yusser Barneyah, discussed with the Vice President of the World Bank for Financing for Development, Akihiko Nishio, and the Director of Resource Mobilization at the International Development Association, Paloma Enos Casero, the progress of implementation of the grants provided by the World Bank to Syria, and ways to benefit from them and expand their scope, in support of development and reconstruction in the country.

The Syrian Ministry of Finance said, in a statement, that the meeting was held on the sidelines of the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group in the Thai capital, Bangkok.

She indicated that the meeting comes in the wake of Syria obtaining grants from the International Development Association worth $493 million, which included the sectors of electricity, health, water, the financial sector, public finance, and education, according to the Syrian News Agency, SANA.

The Syrian Minister of Finance also discussed, with the Director General and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Arab Monetary Fund, Fahd bin Muhammad al-Turki, ways to address the existing financial obligations to the Fund and strengthen the technical support frameworks that the Fund provides to Syria, in a way that contributes to developing the efficiency of financial and institutional work.

The Ministry of Finance said that the meeting dealt with resuming the Arab Trade Financing Program affiliated with the Fund, granting credit lines to the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank of Syria to finance import operations for the Syrian government, in addition to working to accelerate the connection with the Arab payments platform.

The Ministry explained that the two sides agreed to arrange training and capacity-building activities in Damascus for workers in government institutions.