Some have greatness thrust upon them. Syria and its well-wishers worldwide hope that acting finance minister Riad Abd El Raouf will enter those ranks in the coming months.
Raouf, 49, cuts a lonely figure as the only Bashar al-Assad appointee retaining a top cabinet post after the dictator’s shocking ouster by Islamist rebels. With a doctorate in accounting and auditing from France’s Universite Paul Verlaine, trilingual in Arabic, French and English, Raouf returned home to teach at Damascus University. He chaired the board of the Commercial Bank of Syria for a few years and authored scholarly papers on corporate governance before President Bashar Hafez al-Assad tapped him for the ministry in a last-gasp government reshuffle this September.
After Assad fled on December 8, Raouf scored two quick successes: reopening a vital border crossing that neighboring Jordan had closed during the fighting and calming panic selling of the Syrian pound. The pound returned to its former value of 13,000 to the dollar.
Raouf’s longer-term challenges are more than daunting. According to the World Bank, Syria’s economy has shrunk by 85% since its civil war broke out in 2011. Currency reserves could be as low as $200 million. Debt to Iran, Assad’s primary foreign sponsor, totals $30–$50 billion by various estimates.
The now-ruling Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham is still designated as a terrorist organization by the US and the UN. Pervasive sanctions will hobble any Syrian revival until the situation changes. Syria is the third-most sanctioned country in the world after Russia and Iran, according to data provider Castellum.AI. The Syrian government last met with the International Monetary Fund in 2009.
The outside world has plenty of reasons to help, though. Turkey and Europe want to send some of their approximately 4.5 million Syrian refugees home. The US and Arab Gulf States want to cement a strategic debacle for Iran and Russia. The IMF “stands ready to support the international community’s efforts to assist Syria’s reconstruction as needed, and when conditions allow,” a spokeswoman says. If Raouf can bring that moment closer, it would indeed be great.
