Syria’s new government has told business leaders it will adopt a free-market model and integrate the country into the global economy in a major shift from decades of corrupt state control, the head of the biggest Syrian business lobby said on Tuesday.
“People are still waiting to see if it will be an open society or an Islamic state,” a Beirut-based Syrian businessman said, who asked not to be named to talk freely. Abdul Aziz and government spokespeople could not be reached for comment, with the new, transitional government having been formed only on Tuesday.
Independently trading in foreign currencies could previously land someone in jail, but has become common practice in everyday transactions since Assad’s ouster. Reuters spoke to four prominent Syrian businessmen who said the message from the new authorities appeared encouraging and a far cry from a system that had been heavily controlled by a small cohort of loyalist businessmen close to the Assads.