US—Ambassador Edward P. DJEREJIAN; Embassy at Abu Rumaneh,
Al Mansur Street No.2, Damascus (mailing address is P. O. Box 29,
Damascus); telephone [963] (11) 333052 or 332557, 330416, 332814, 332315,
714108, 337178, 333232, 334352
_#_Flag: three equal horizontal bands of red (top), white, and black with two small green five-pointed stars in a horizontal line centered in the white band; similar to the flag of Yemen which has a plain white band and of Iraq which has three green stars (plus an Arabic inscription) in a horizontal line centered in the white band; also similar to the flag of Egypt which has a symbolic eagle centered in the white band
_*Economy #_Overview: Syria's rigidly structured Bathist economy turned out slightly more goods in 1990 than in 1983, when the population was 20% smaller. Economic difficulties are attributable, in part, to severe drought in several recent years, costly but unsuccessful attempts to match Israel's military strength, a falloff in Arab aid, and insufficient foreign exchange earnings to buy needed inputs for industry and agriculture. Socialist policy, embodied in a thicket of bureaucratic regulations, in many instances has driven away or pushed underground the mercantile and entrepreneurial spirit for which Syrian businessmen have long been famous. Two bright spots: a sizable number of villagers have benefited from land redistribution, electrification, and other rural development programs; and a recent find of light crude oil has enabled Syria to cut oil imports. A long-term concern is the additional drain of upstream Euphrates water by Turkey when its vast dam and irrigation projects are completed toward the end of the 1990s. Output in 1990 rebounded from the very bad year of 1989, as agricultural production and oil revenues increased substantially.
_#_GDP: $20.0 billion, per capita $1,600; real growth rate 12% (1990 est.)
_#_Inflation rate (consumer prices): 50% (1990 est.)
_#_Unemployment rate: NA%
_#_Budget: revenues $4.8 billion; expenditures $5.5 billion, including capital expenditures of $2.1 billion (1990 est.)
_#_Exports: $2.3 billion (f.o.b., 1990 est.);
commodities—petroleum 40%, textiles 30%, farm products 13%, phosphates (1989);
partners—USSR and Eastern Europe 42%, EC 31%, Arab countries 17%, US/Canada 2% (1989)