PM: Syrian economy strong, balanced

Prime Minister Wael al-Halqi said that health sector in Syria has gained the government's interest during the latest years which led to the improvement of the health indicators, increase in the number of hospitals, health centers as well as providing them with advanced equipement. "Syria is passing through a universal economic, diplomatic and intelligence war which negatively affected its resources, taxes and tourism, but in spite of this fact, the government was capable of adapting with this situation and providing the basic needs of citizens of food and oil productions," al-Halqi said during the opening of the extra ordinary conference of Syrian Medical Association on Monday. He added that after 27 month of the start of the world war against the country, the Syrian economy is still strong and balanced, elaborating that the state allocated 497 billion SYP for the salaries of state employees in 2013. "The government has good reserve of the foreign currencies which meets the demands of the basic life as it covers non-trade funding, particularly the medical treatment," the Premier said. He affirmed that the decrease in the price of the Syrian pound against the foreign currencies was because of the unfair economic sanctions as well as the oil, banking and insurance siege. The Prime Minister said that the government paid compensations for the affected people with 6.4 billion SYP since the beginning of the current year out of 30 billion SYP allocated to be paid for the citizens till the end of 2013, elaborating that the government spent 2.4 billion SYP as compensations in 2012. He pointed out that Syria's production of wheat during the current season will increase by 2.5 million ton in addition to the strategic reserve which covers the demands up to two years. For his part, Minister of Health Saad al-Naef said that 57 hospitals were affected by the acts of the armed terrorist groups with 32 became out of service. "The Ministry is working to import special medicines from the friendly countries and signing new contracts for medical equipment in spite of the unfair blockade.