Syria: Bashar al-Assad dismisses Prime Minister in full economic crisis

Text by: RFI Follow

President Bashar al-Assad sacked his Prime Minister on Thursday 11 June when Syria, bloody with war since 2011, is facing a worsening of the economic crisis with a sharp depreciation of the national currency.

Publicity

Appointed in 2016, Imad Khamis, 58, was relieved of his duties and replaced by Minister of Water Resources Hussein Arnous, who will lead the government until the legislative elections scheduled for July 19, the presidency said in a statement .

Like his predecessor, the new Prime Minister has been the subject of sanctions imposed by the United States and the European Union against the Assad regime for several years.

The dismissal of Imad Khamis comes at a time when the government is criticized for its management of the crisis , aggravated by a sharp depreciation of the Syrian pound, in addition to the multiplication of austerity measures.

" Caesar Law "

If the official exchange rate is currently 700 pounds for one dollar, in the parallel market the rate of the national currency has recently exceeded 3,000 pounds for a dollar. Before the war started, the dollar was trading at 48 pounds at the rate set by the Central Bank.

In a parliamentary session on Sunday in Damascus, MP Achwaq Abbas lambasted "  bad government policies  ", while another elected official demanded immediate action from the Central Bank.

For experts, the current depreciation can be explained in particular by the reluctance of the business world before the adoption in mid-June of new American sanctions provided for by the "Caesar law". The text, promulgated in December by President Trump, provides for a freeze on all reconstruction aid for the Syrian authorities as well as sanctions against the government of Bashar al-Assad or companies collaborating with it.

Its prerogatives [those of the Prime Minister, Editor's note] are relatively limited, and they mainly concern the economy. This is why Imad Khamis was sacked. This is to be linked to the catastrophic economic situation that Syria is going through today. (…) We use the Prime Minister as a scapegoat or as a fuse. In any case, this is the message that Bashar al-Assad wants to send to the population.

Thomas Pïerret

Murielle Paradon

Newsletter Receive all international news directly in your mailbox

Follow all international news by downloading the RFI application

• Bashar al-Assad

On the same subject

Syria, unprecedented demonstration in Soueida against the regime of Bashar al-Assad

Syria: twelve pro-Iranian fighters killed in eastern raids

Syria: five pro-Iranian soldiers killed by an air strike in the east of the country