Qatar to fund Syrian public sector salaries

Qatar will provide a monthly grant of $29 million for three months to support the economic recovery of the new administration led by HTS in Syria.

Syrian Finance Minister Muhammed Barniyeh announced that Qatar would provide support for the payment of salaries for public sector employees. The minister stated that this aid is exempt from US sanctions.

In a statement to the state news agency SANA on Wednesday night, Syrian Finance Minister Muhammed Barniyeh said, “We thank the government of Qatar for its generous grant to cover a portion of current salary and wage payments.”

Barniyeh stated that the aid would be $29 million per month for three months and would cover salaries in sectors such as health, education, and social services, as well as non-military pensions.

Emphasizing that this mechanism is exempt from US sanctions, Barniyeh also thanked the US Department of the Treasury for its swift response on the matter.

Since overthrowing the Bashar al-Assad administration in December, the interim administration has increased its diplomatic contacts aimed at lifting US and EU sanctions.

Finance Minister Barniyeh said he hoped this financial support would be “the beginning of new steps.” Barniyeh stated that the aid would be managed through the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and covers approximately one-fifth of current public salaries, which is 20%.

Qatar is among the leading regional supporters of the new interim government in Syria, alongside Turkey. In January, diplomatic sources reported that Qatar was working on a plan to finance the new administration in Syria to increase public salaries.

In addition to this move, Qatar, along with Saudi Arabia, decided in recent weeks to assume a portion of Syria’s debts to the World Bank Group.