Syria’s economic output has shrunk by as much as 60% since the conflict began in 2011, according to estimates in a new report released by British think-tank Chatham House.
Syria’s mining and construction workers have been hit hardest – with exports dropping from $12bn to around $2bn.
The Syrian pound has also lost 80% of value since the conflict began.
But economist and report author David Butter warned that with few reliable statistics, data remained foggy.
He said the greatest cost of four years of deadly conflict was the quarter of a million people who have lost their lives.
There has been an estimated 23% population decrease, with four million registered refugees in neighbouring countries.
‘War economy’
Mr Butter told the BBC that President Assad’s team used data to “maintain the fiction” they are governing all of Syria, even though there have been opposition gains in half of the country.
Despite that, he painted a fascinating, if limited, picture of a part state-run economy and part “war” economy in breakaway parts of the country reliant on international funding.
He used data where possible from the Syrian Central Bank, remaining corporate financial institutions and the UN in his report, “Syria’s Economy: Picking Up The Pieces”.
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Of those people that remain in the country, at least 6.5 million people are estimated to be displaced within Syria’s borders.
Measuring overall economic output is difficult in a war damaged country, but Mr Butter said studies showed a drop of between 50% to 65%, which he said was “a reasonable assumption”.(BBC)
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