IMF agrees technical assistance program for Syria

The International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday it had agreed a wide-ranging technical assistance program for Syria, where the new government is trying to rebuild the economy after more than a decade of civil war.

An IMF team made a five-day trip to Damascus from July 19, after the fund resumed missions to Syria last year for the first time since 2009.

Ron van Rooden, the senior IMF official who led the visit, said Syria still needed strong and timely international financial support because of its humanitarian and development needs.

The IMF delegation met Finance Minister Yisr Barnieh, central bank Governor Safwat Raslan and other senior officials, the IMF said.

The technical assistance program will include help for Syrian authorities on fiscal reforms, revenue mobilization and public debt management. It will also focus on financial sector reforms, including preparing new legislation and regulations, helping rehabilitate the banking sector and strengthening anti-money-laundering and anti-terrorism-financing controls.

The IMF said progress had been made on a debt sustainability analysis, including the compilation of comprehensive debt data. Van Rooden said gaps in the data remained and that the technical assistance work would also help build better economic data collection and analysis systems.

Syria has not officially asked the IMF for a bailout package. The IMF said such a request would depend on a debt analysis, possible restructuring and negotiations with the fund.

The World Bank has estimated Syria's post-war reconstruction could cost $216 billion. The United States and some allies have announced the easing of sanctions on Syria, but investors have remained cautious.