Syrian Arab Republic

Merchandise Trade

• The Syrian Arab Republic's Working Party for World Trade Organization (WTO) accession was established in May 2010. The Working Party has not yet met. Syria was open to international trade before the civil war began in 2011, and the government is still aiming to harmonise its import tariffs and custom duties to adapt them to WTO standards.


• Syria experienced a few years of positive trade development, after which trading came to a standstill due to the start of the civil war and the consequent economic sanctions imposed by the country's trade partners.


• Syria's average tariff rate is 14.2%, the second highest in the Middle East and North African region (out of 18 countries). Syria imposes a progressive tax rates system for partners that it does not have a trade agreement with. Customs duties range between 1% and 200%, where raw materials are taxed at 5-10%, equipment for industry 10-20%, foodstuffs 1-15%, and machines 30-60%. A surtax of between 6% and 35% is levied on products meant to be sold to military barracks, schools and local councils. Tourism vehicles weighing under one ton are taxed 150%.


• In May 2009, Syria banned all imports of 'any meat or products or materials containing derivatives of pigs'. Furthermore, travellers flying to Syria are banned from bringing in pets (unless accompanied with health certificates), animal products or prepared foodstuffs that contain animal products regardless of their origin. The measures apply to all of Syria's trading partners. Although this measure is likely to have been taken on the grounds of protecting the citizenry's health, it still discriminates against foreign producers of the affected products.


• Customs duties are currently being lowered and reviewed in the context of an agreement of association between Syria and the EU and Syria's eventual membership to the WTO. Customs formalities have therefore been simplified and the list of prohibited imports has been lowered.


• Syria has 34 signed bilateral investment treaties that are in force and six more signed but not yet in force.

Sources: WTO – Trade Policy Review, Fitch Solutions, UNCTAD

Multinational Trade Agreements

Active

• Syria is a member of the Pan-Arab Free Trade Area (PAFTA): PAFTA's signatories consist of Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen. PAFTA was established in order to create an Arab economic bloc that could effectively compete with other countries while ensuring that each country increased trade with one another. PAFTA entered into force on January 1, 1998. The most important aspect of the agreement was that over the next 10 years (to 2008), each member country would seek to reduce customs fees by 10% per annum as well as gradually eliminate trade barriers. In March 2001, the member countries decided to reduce the period over which the reductions in tariffs could be made so as to speed up the process, and in January 2005 the elimination of most tariffs among the PAFTA members was enforced. The agreement covers trade in goods.


• Syria-EU Co-operation Agreement: This bilateral agreement between the EU and Syria entered into force on July 1, 1977, and it covers trade in goods. However, because it dealt with trade in crude oil and petroleum products, gold, precious metals and diamonds the agreement is suspended. An association agreement between Syria and the EU has been negotiated, but put on hold because of the internal situation in Syria, where internal repression has led to restrictive measures by the EU that have had a significant impact on bilateral trade. Compared to 2011, imports from Syria have dropped by 97% and exports by 85%, and where once they consisted of fuel and mining products they now consist mainly of agricultural products.


• Turkey-Syria Free Trade Agreement (FTA): This bilateral FTA between Turkey and Syria entered into force on January 1, 2007, and it covers trade in goods.

Sources: WTO Regional Trade Agreements database, European Commission, Fitch Solutions

Foreign Direct Investment

• Consumption Tax: 1.5-40%
• Corporate Income Tax: 10-28% (progressive)

Sources: World Bank, National Sources

Business Taxes

Sources: World Bank, Fitch Solutions
Date last reviewed: March 14, 2020

Foreign Worker Permits

Anyone wanting to work in Syria needs to obtain permission from the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor.

Localisation Requirements

The security situation means that employers will be obligated to pay exorbitant insurance premiums for foreign staff, and may also be required to offer substantial hardship and danger pay premiums.

Visa/Travel Restrictions

Citizens of all countries require a visa to travel to Syria. Before 2014, citizens of many Arab countries did not require a visa, and citizens of many former Soviet states were allowed to obtain visas on arrival.

There are two types of entry visas: a six-month visa valid for one trip or multiple trips, which can be awarded for one year; and a three-month visa valid for one time only.

Sources: Government websites, Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Fitch Solutions

Sovereign Credit Ratings

Sources: Moody's, Standard & Poor's, Fitch Ratings

Hong Kong’s Trade with Syria

Export Commodity	Commodity Detail	Value (US$ thousand)
Commodity 1	Electrical machinery, apparatus and appliances, and electrical parts thereof	595.4
Commodity 2	Professional, scientific and controlling instruments and apparatus	138.5
Commodity 3	Manufactures of metals	55.0
Commodity 4	Office machines and automatic data processing machines	49.3
Commodity 5	Machinery specialized for particular industries	22.5

Import Commodity	Commodity Detail	Value (US$ thousand)
Commodity 1	Live animals other than animals of division 03	12.0
Commodity 2	Telecommunications and sound recording and reproducing apparatus and equipment	4.2
Commodity 3	Electrical machinery, apparatus and appliances, n.e.s., and electrical parts thereof	2.4
Commodity 4	Special transactions and commodities not classified according to kind	2.3
Commodity 5	Miscellaneous manufactured articles, n.e.s.	0.1