A man stands in front of a building with graffiti depicting the slogan in Arabic "We will return," written above a hand holding the key to a lost Palestinian house, now located in Israel, next to a Syrian flag, in the Yarmouk camp for Palestinian refugees, in southern Damascus, on May 22, 2025. (Credit: Louai Beshara/AFP.)
International Monetary Fund (IMF) has had “useful discussions” with the Syrian authorities and is “closely monitoring developments” concerning the country, assured Julie Kozack, the institution's communications director, at a press conference on Thursday.
“We have had useful discussions with the new economic team, in place since the end of March, particularly during the recent spring meetings” of the IMF and the World Bank (WB), which took place in mid-April, said Kozack.
For now, the Fund seeks to “rebuild [its] knowledge of the Syrian economy, with the help of the authorities and in collaboration with other international financial institutions,” detailed Kozack, noting that “our last Article IV dates back to 2009, it's been a while.”
Article IV is an annual IMF publication produced for each country, providing an economic overview. It generally serves as a basis for discussions with the authorities to establish aid programs.
More generally, the Fund official acknowledged that “Syria needs significant aid to rebuild its economic institutions. We stand ready to provide advice and targeted, prioritized technical assistance in our areas of expertise.”
The World Bank has already announced the resumption of its aid programs in Syria after Saudi Arabia and Qatar settled a remaining debt on behalf of the Syrian government.
This announcement followed President Donald Trump's statement during his Middle East visit, indicating a forthcoming lifting of the sanctions imposed on the country since 1979, which were strengthened after Bashar al-Assad's regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests in 2011.
The European Union (EU), the United Kingdom, and Canada had already eased their own sanctions regimes, and the EU announced on Tuesday the lifting of all economic sanctions targeting Syria.
This lifting of sanctions primarily concerns the Syrian banking system, which had been barred from accessing the international capital market. It also includes the unfreezing of the Syrian central bank's assets.
The war in Syria, which began in 2011, has killed over 500,000 people, displaced millions, and devastated the country, which has been divided into several zones of influence.
On Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned of the risk of a new “full-scale civil war” in the country following a series of bloody attacks against the Alawite and Druze minorities, accused of supporting al-Assad's regime.
Israel continues attacks on southern Lebanon, demolishes buildings in Bint Jbeil