Fuel, Salaries, and Services: Details of Government Spending Rationalization Measures in Syria

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The measures to rationalize government spending in Syria raise urgent questions about their direct implications on salaries, services, and projects, especially following the decision to reduce fuel allocations for government cars and vehicles by 30%.

These measures aim to control unnecessary administrative and operational expenses, rearranging spending priorities, while simultaneously protecting salaries and essential services and improving the efficiency of public resource use.

Government clarifications address the main questions raised, starting from defining the scope of rationalization and exceptions, to the mechanism for handling savings and monitoring the implementation of measures on the ground, according to the Syrian Arab News Agency "SANA."

The announced measures do not aim to reduce resources allocated for essential services or to enter into a comprehensive "austerity policy," as the focus is on unnecessary expenses that can be rationalized, which can be postponed or eliminated without affecting the work of institutions or the continuity of services provided to citizens.

These expenses include travel, missions, unnecessary official tasks, hospitality, conferences, unnecessary publications, and communications, in addition to halting the purchase or replacement of furniture, office equipment, and vehicles designated for administrative purposes unless there is a proven need.

It is planned to reduce gasoline and diesel allocations by 30% for government cars and vehicles, and this does not target public transport or emergency service vehicles, including ambulances and fire trucks, in addition to cars and vehicles that do not exceed allocations of 70 liters per month.

Public entities have also been tasked with merging and organizing official travel as much as possible to limit consumption, with the Ministry of Energy responsible for monitoring implementation and submitting periodic reports on consumption.

The spending rationalization measures do not include salaries, wages, and entitlements of state employees, as these expenses have been kept outside the scope of reduction. The rationalization aims, instead, to secure savings from items that can be postponed or reduced, which helps manage available resources efficiently and maintain the ability of public entities to meet their basic commitments.

The freezing of some investment expenditures does not mean a halt to government projects in general, as projects will be reviewed and classified according to their priority and actual need at the current stage. Priority projects will continue, especially those related to essential services and infrastructure protection or those that generate financial returns or contribute to foreign currency provision, while projects that do not affect public services or economic activity can be postponed.

As for the projects whose feasibility does not match their cost at the present stage, new expenditures on them will be halted and their unallocated appropriations will be reclaimed according to the regulations.

The procedures prevent the fragmentation of projects or the transfer of their items in order to circumvent austerity measures, making the rearrangement of priorities based on the nature and feasibility of the project, rather than changing the form of the appropriation or the method of its inclusion.

Operational expenditures related to vital sectors are exempted, primarily health, education, water, energy, and public safety, in order to maintain the continuity of essential services.

Projects that have reached advanced stages of completion, projects funded by external grants, and projects with direct economic returns documented by evidence will continue.

A mechanism has been established to deal with the savings resulting from halting or reducing some expenditures, as public entities are not allowed to use these savings to arrange new expenditures or commitments, or to make transfers to cover non-priority expenses.

The General Secretariat of the Presidency issued a statement to ministries and public entities, based on a proposal from the Ministry of Finance, which included a series of measures to control and rationalize public spending, in line with the requirements to enhance financial discipline and the efficient use of public resources under the current circumstances.