The civil war in Syria does not seem to be ending anytime soon and unfortunately that means that Syrians will have to come to grips with the fact that they will either have to flee or stay in Syria and not only fall prey to the horrors of war but also the economic downturn that comes with it. A Harvard Center for International Development study estimated that large government-involved civil wars typically reduce GDP by 1.25 % each year whereas Syria’s 2013 GDP dropped a staggering 20.6 percent and the GDP in 2014 cannot even be calculated because the economy is so broken down. Fast forward to 2015 and the sheer amount of destruction means that there is no good way to put the situation in any words. Disturbingly so, the Syrian HDI has fallen back to a point where it was 38 years ago. THat means that the Syrian today has the same life expectancy, education and overall quality of life as a Syrian in 1977.
The un employment rate is at 57 percent, one of the highest in the entire world. Comparable to nations like Haiti. The entire economy has become a sort of conflict economy which is forcing Syrians to try and attempt to "thieve" their way into the markets in Damascus. Sources predict that it will take over 30 years for Syria to return to its Pre War conditions and you really being to wonder when you put it in perspective, is it all worth it?
http://www.globalenvision.org/2015/03/25/cost-civil-war-syria%E2%80%99s-economy-after-four-years-conflict
5 comments:
It's incredible how a war like this can ruin a country and also how significantly it can affect the country. For a country's GDP to fall 20% and then not even be able to be calculated makes it sad for the innocent citizens who have done nothing to bring this upon themselves. Hopefully they are able to seek refuge in other countries safely.
According to your article I believe the majority of Syrian GDP goes towards government spending. The war torn country has separated into three main categories: the corrupt Syrian government, the rebels, and of course ISIS. The terrorist group ISIS controls much of the means of production and oil. The Syrian government continues to demonstrate close ties with the terrorist group that leaves the country unstable. The American trained rebels show little hope as Russia continues to back the Syrian government. As this situation continues to worsen, and as terrorist attacks continue to increase, American and the rest of the world will need to take a more direct military approach to resolve this problem.
It is actually predictable that if a country is at war, its economy will go through a crisis. Usually, this is the case because of the government spending is then focuses on military equipment and services. Also, death at battle will create loss of capital, which as a result will decrease in production of goods and services.
It's very clear that the war has greatly impacted the Syrian economy shown by the 20% drop in GDP. I agree with Leah, it's nothing surprising when a country is in the state of war, the economy will surely be affected. Labor force I believe will be the most that is affected thus decreasing one of the factors of production. This will result in a massive decrease in production output in various industries.
This is very unfortunate for Russia, but they aren't the only ones to blame for the perpetuation of the war. Russia and the U.S. have also intervened for their economic or ideological motives.
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