Damascus, (SANA) – Speaker of the People's Assembly Dr. Mahmoud al-Abrash chaired a People's Assembly session on Sunday during which Finance Minister Dr. Mohammad al-Hussein answered the Assembly members' written questions on taxes, ministry plans for establishing bank branches, and the effects of the global economic crisis on Syrian economy.

During the session, the Assembly approved a bill for exempting the loans given by the Agricultural Cooperation Bank in Hasaka from overdue fees and interests exceeding contractual interest, with the Minister underlining the importance of this bill due to the accumulated debts in Hasaka.

Regarding the effects of the global financial crisis on Syrian economy, Minister al-Hussein pointed out that despite the sharp effects of the drop in oil prices on the returns of the state budget, the price drop will have positive overall effects on Syrian economy and the balance of payments.

The Minister stressed that the effects of the price drop on budget deficiency must be taken seriously, calling for exerting serious efforts to control the deficiency by acquiring other resources not related to petroleum.

Dr. al-Hussein pointed out that private investment in Syria, and particularly Arab investment, will be affected by the global financial crisis due to the decrease in funds all over the world, which will impede the flow of foreign investments into Syria. The money transferred by Syrian expatriates will also decrease due to the possibilities of lay-offs and salary cuts in many companies abroad.

The Minister noted that tourism in Syria is likely to be affected by the decrease in funds among tourists, particularly Arab tourists, due to the losses that their savings suffered, especially in the Gulf financial markets which suffered massive losses in the past few months.

Dr. al-Hussein said Syrian economy will benefit in imports from the drop in the prices of basic materials such as steel and wood, and in return Syrian exports such as petroleum and phosphates will lose some of its value.

Regarding the possibility of increasing the pensions of retired civilians to match those of retired military staff, the Minister said this will happen after making a comprehensive study of the states of retired civilians, preparing a bill and an estimate of the project, and presenting the bill to the relevant authorities to be approved.

Dr. al-Hussein answered other questions on the possibility of establishing branches of governmental banks, providing loans and other requirements to farmers who don't own deeds, issuing a new contract system for the administrative and economical public sector, establishing a fund for agricultural disasters, and providing loans to owners of olive presses.

The Minister also pointed out that his ministry focused in its studies of customs fees on the quality of products, the availability of similar local products, allowing new industrial investment opportunities and approximation to fees in neighboring countries in order to bolster the competitiveness of local industries.

The Assembly then referred a number of bills to the legislative and constitutional committee for study, including a bill for having the Ministry of Higher Education replace the Higher Council of Science and the Higher Council for Support of Arts, Literature and Human Science, in addition to a bill on approving the aerial transport agreement signed by Syria and Croatia and a bill for approving the agreement for avoiding double taxation and tax evasion signed by Syria and Slovakia.

The Assembly also referred members' written questions to the related authorities via the Prime Ministry.

H. Sabbagh