Finance: governmental companies won't float on bourse

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Dec 05 2009

Finance: governmental companies won't float on bourse

Syria's Finance Minister Mohammad al-Hussien affirmed on Thursday that governmental companies won't float on Syrian stock market and they are not share holding companies.

The remark was made after reports said that the Syrian government intends to float public companies on the stock market.

Speaking before the People's Assembly, al-Hussien said: "It is not possible to float governmental companies on bourse because they should be turned into share holding companies… and if they (companies) later fulfill certain conditions, they would be listed in the stock market.. this is not easy and it is not on the table, at least, in the near future".

As for repercussions of Dubai financial crisis, the minister affirmed that Syrian economy has not affected by the crisis, noting that only Syrian workers in Dubai have been affected.

In other development, al-Hussien said that his ministry prepared a decision for ending financial interlacement to be issued before the end of this year after passing it to the cabinet and the PA.

Regarding foreign loans, the minister said: "over the past decades, Syria has adopted a directive on not depending on foreign loans and debts…we have seen the destiny of countries that depended on loan in financing non- productive sectors".

He added that treasury's bonds are only used for financing investment projects, noting that the state budget deficit is being surmounted through combating double-taxation and increasing economic profits and revenues.

"Domestic resources make up 98.5% of the state budget resources , and Syria' foreign loans reach 12 billion Syrian pound", al-Hussien said.

Concerning health insurance of states employees, the minister said that public sectors are allowed to sign contracts with Syrian Insurance Company under the legislative decree issued by President Bashar al-Assad last October.

Basma Qaddour

source SNS