"The Syrians ate the country," a phrase widely spoken by some residents of Syria's neighboring countries, some of whom received hundreds of thousands of refugees, while others received millions of them who fled to escape the eight-year-old war that raged in their country. About half a million dead and huge numbers of missing, displaced and injured, as well as massive destruction of infrastructure throughout the war. (1)

Despite the fact that some countries have experienced economic shocks against the background of these great waves of refugees, the full picture does not appear to be the blackness of some media outlets - whether official or social - that are trying to portray the issue of Syrian refugees as a heavy burden on the economies of these countries . In fact, there is another much brighter aspect of the Syrians' displacement to neighboring countries, their active and active contribution to the development of their economies significantly during the war years.

The pioneers of Syria invade Turkish territory


By the end of 2018, the number of Syrians in the Turkish territory was estimated at 3.5 million Syrians, with Turkey taking the lion's share among the neighboring countries hosting the largest number of Syrian refugees over the years of the Syrian revolution in the spring of 2011 whose numbers are estimated to be at least 5 million internally displaced persons.

Despite the difficulties faced by the Syrians in Turkey - like other neighboring countries since the outbreak of the crisis -, Turkey specifically witnessed a remarkable experience of increasing Syrian investment and leadership presence in a way that is not comparable to other countries. With their influx into the country during the crisis years, Turkey has seen significant investment rates and the opening of Syrian-led enterprises and companies.

According to a report issued by the Turkish Economic Policy Research Center at the end of 2018, the Syrians have established more than 10,000 companies in various sectors since their arrival in Turkey in 2011 - an average of 4 companies a day - about 7 thousand of which are licensed and officially registered with the Turkish authorities , While others are expected to be completely unlicensed and have no official records, or are still in the process of registering and rationing conditions.

These figures made the Syrians top the list of foreign investors who establish new companies in Turkey annually, so much so that the opening of more than 700 new Syrian companies was estimated during the first six months of 2018. According to the same report, the most Syrian companies concentrated in Istanbul, The first of the investments of the Syrians, followed by other cities, especially the city of Gaziantep, which is one of the most Turkish cities incubated investments and industries of Syria because of its geographical location on the border between Turkey and Syria. (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)

Syrian engines for the Turkish economy


Turkey's daily newspaper "Daily Sabah" shed more light on Syria's investment levels in the country by the end of 2018, with a series of positive results showing exceptional success for Syrian expatriates, providing a great boost to Turkey's economy, according to a survey conducted by the European Bank (EBRD) and the Turkish Political and Economic Research Institute (TEPAV), which included nearly 400 Syrian companies in Turkey in various fields and sectors. (8)

According to the survey, about 60% of the Syrian businessmen who founded their companies in the Turkish market said that their projects were able to achieve great successes. While the average number of employees in each company is estimated at about 10 thousand companies with an average of seven employees per company, whether Syrian or Turkish, which means pumping tens of thousands of jobs in the Turkish economy.

The survey also showed that 71.7% of the Syrian entrepreneurs who came to Turkey said that they do not want to return to Syria after the end of the war and that they intend to complete their projects in Turkey, regardless of the improvement in the situation in Syria or not, while about 48% Their arrival in Turkey in particular was caused by a good business environment that embraces commercial activities more flexibly than other Syrian neighbors.


At the sectoral level, surveys say that most Syrian companies in Turkey focus on sectors that can be described as "micro scale" or small industries as well as service sectors. The most prominent of these services include wholesale and retail trade, tourism agencies, consulting, transport, food, textile and real estate services. Most of these Syrian companies - about 75% - were already engaged in previous pilot activities before moving to Turkey.

The survey showed that 55.4% of the Syrian companies in Turkey export their products abroad - more than half of the Syrian companies operating in Turkey - which is a percentage Is too big to beat the Turkish companies themselves, which are 30.9% export-dependent. The most likely reason for the increase in the export activities of the Syrian companies is the presence of a large field of export to Syria through the border gates between the two countries.

Despite the large footprint that the Syrians put in Turkey during those years and the Turkish newspaper Yeni Shafak in October 2017, about 14% of foreign investment flowing to the country, it is not without problems and administrative complications experienced by the Syrian pioneers and investors in Turkey .

The main challenges faced by Syrian investors and entrepreneurs are the difficulty of opening bank accounts and converting local currencies, as well as facing some individual problems with banks that set more conditions for opening bank accounts for Syrians or facilitating loans for their projects, although there is no legislation to prevent them. (9, 10)

The Syrians in Egypt: Investments, hopes and pushing the economy


In Egypt, despite the wide political upheaval in the country from the outbreak of the revolution in January 2011, through subsequent political events, and despite the deteriorating economic situation witnessed by the country during these years, these and other factors did not prevent Of Syria's influx as a major destination after the outbreak of the revolution.

Fast Touring In some areas of the 6th October City of Egypt and a group of Cairo and Alexandria neighborhoods, the visitor feels that he is in miniature Damascus or at least lives in areas that are full of Syrian culture, which is clearly visible in restaurants and cafés scattered with clear Shamanic signs. In general, the number of Syrians residing in Egypt is estimated at half a million Syrians, including 115,000 refugees who entered the country following the outbreak of the revolution in Syria and are officially registered with the UNHCR.

According to the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) report, Syrian expatriates to Egypt have established various business projects between 2012-2016 with a total investment value of about $ 800 million. This number, despite its size, may reflect the minimum level of Syrian investments in Egypt, as many investors resort to registering their companies with the names of Egyptian partners to avoid administrative complications and procedures that take a long time.

According to separate statements by the Syrian Businessmen Association in Egypt, the number of Syrian investors who are involved in setting up projects in various fields in the country amounts to 30 thousand investors and businessmen. The fields in which the Syrians invest in Egypt range from light industries, Syrian restaurants, oriental sweets production companies to furniture, furniture carpentry, perfumes and clothing stores.


In spite of some restrictions placed by the Egyptian government on the Syrians, especially in the terms of employment of Egyptian workers in their projects, they achieved remarkable growth in the pace of establishing their projects to the level of establishing 818 Syrian companies during the first nine months of 2018, with investments estimated at 70 million dollars Equivalent to 1.25 billion Egyptian pounds), which represents a quarter of the number of companies established by foreigners this year.

This remarkable development in the flow of Syrian businessmen and investors has made the Egyptian government considering a proposal to establish an integrated Syrian industrial zone specializing in the textile industry on a large area in the 10th of Ramadan industrial area in the suburbs of Cairo, which includes dozens of Syrian companies specialized in this field, So far.

According to the Egyptian Ministry of Investment, Syrian investments in Egypt are not new, but return to the early 1970s. Between 1970 and 2017, more than 4,700 Syrian companies worked in Egypt, contributing hundreds of millions of dollars to the Egyptian economy And provided more than 100 thousand jobs for Egyptians during that period. (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)

The Syrians in Jordan


In particular, Jordan was one of the first destinations for Syrian refugees after the situation in Syria, as the country closest to the border, broke out in Syria. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the number of Syrian refugees registered has some 650,000 refugees. However, the Jordanian government says that there are at least 1.3 million refugees in its territory, which has brought major challenges to the Jordanian economy and infrastructure in all its aspects.

As news of the tragic situation of Syrian refugees in Jordan, especially in the camps, has grown, so far, the bright side of the flow of Syrians into the country has been hidden, and they have also brought a large investment and commercial movement over the years of the crisis in their country. According to Syria TV, the number of Syrian companies officially registered in Jordan reached at least 4,000 companies by the beginning of 2018, with a total capital of more than 220 million Jordanian dinars, or 310 million dollars. (18)


According to the London-based al-Hayat newspaper, citing the financial expert Khalid al-Wazzani, the Syrian presence during these years contributed at least 20% of Jordan's total growth of only 2%, which made him warn of the great economic decline that would affect the country if it started. Syrians in return to their country in large numbers may leave a large vacuum is a crisis for large sectors in Jordan will affect the income of large groups of Jordanians who are relying on the Syrian presence of rents, housing and investment. (19)

According to the same newspaper, a personal study conducted by the researcher estimated that the physical impact of the Syrian presence in the country at about $ 4 billion annually, despite the negative effects and the great pressure on infrastructure facilities in Jordan, which does not bear this large increase in population in a short period.

However, the quality of the Syrian investments in Jordan is very similar to that of the highly competitive Jordanian market. The Syrians resorted to investing in trade, restaurants and food, on the one hand, and handicrafts on the other hand, such as furniture workshops, Such as investing in technology development of corporate management systems and information technology, and establishing companies for advertising and e-marketing. (20)

Syrians in Lebanon .. huge money despite the restrictions and crises


In April 2017, Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri came out at the Brussels conference to discuss the Syrian refugee crisis and said, "Lebanon is nearing the point of collapse" because of the enormous pressure it is having to host at least 1.5 million Syrian refugees , And that his government fears widespread unrest that could erupt due to tensions between the refugees and the Lebanese communities, because of the Syrian invasion of facilities and the high unemployment rate in Lebanon, which is causing an atmosphere that threatens to explode. (21)

In spite of the suffering experienced by large sectors of the Syrian refugees in Lebanon, which have been stigmatized by racist statements by political leaders and media outlets during their years on their territory, in contrast the Syrian presence has borne many positive aspects, especially in the economic and investment aspects. According to a study by the American University of Beirut published by the Institute "Essam Fares" of the University, the Syrian refugees in Lebanon are paying about 378 million dollars a year only for the rent of homes in which they live, an average of one million and a half million dollars a day.

This huge figure is also supported by the transfer of huge numbers of capital from Syria to Lebanon during the war. In mid-2017, the Lebanese daily An-Nahar reported bank estimates of the movement of Syrian deposits in Lebanon at about $ 20 billion, according to Syrian sources. 8 to 30 billion dollars, according to Lebanese banking estimates. Although most of these funds came to Lebanon illegally by smuggling them secretly and placing them in the form of savings deposits in Lebanese banks. (22)


In spite of the severe restrictions imposed by the Lebanese government on the Syrians to enact laws that prevent them from direct investment in Lebanon and restrict their freedom of work in Lebanese companies within specific jobs including cleaning, construction and other sectors, the statistics published by the American University in Beirut and transferred by Nasser Yasin, Fares, "says that the Syrian presence contributed to the creation of 12,000 jobs in the Lebanese market in 2016, which benefited Lebanese as teachers in schools established by the United Nations for Syrian refugees. (23, 24, 25, 26)

Finally, the picture is certainly not rosy with regard to the waves of Syrian asylum to neighboring countries, but it is also not black to the degree that they are exported as these arrivals represent a full burden on the countries that receive them. The past seven years have proved conclusively that the plight of the Syrians has turned into a grant to neighboring countries that have been able to seize the opportunity to adjust their economic standards by the presence of the Syrians on their territory and benefit from them both at the level of expertise or attracting capital.