Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad has signed a law ratifying a $1 billion credit line from the Iranian regime, Syria’s state news agency SANA said on Wednesday.
The agreement was between two state-owned banks, the Syrian Commercial Bank and Export Development Bank of Iran, it said. Syria signed a previous $3.6 billion credit line with Iran in July 2013 which has been used up mostly for oil imports, bankers have said.
The new deal was signed on May 19 and approved by the Syrian regime’s parliament on Tuesday, SANA said. The money would be used for funding imports of goods and commodities and implementing projects, it said, without giving details.
The Iranian regime’s financial aid has been seen as pivotal to the Syrian regime and the economy, which has shrunk by more than a half in the four years since the conflict erupted, researchers say.
Syrian officials and businessmen said in May that Damascus was about to finalise details of a new credit facility.
A Syrian official told Reuters at the time that the new credit line would be used “to secure the flow of essential goods and materials,” for Syria.
Syria’s economy has been hurt by a depletion of foreign reserves that were estimated at $16 billion-18 billion before the crisis. The country had been earning some $2.5 billion a year from oil exports before the war.
The Iranian regime’s President Hassan Rouhani has said Tehran will back Assad “until the end of the road”. Several senior Iranian Revolutionary Guards commanders have been killed in the conflict in recent months.
The Iranian regime also backs the Lebanese Shi’ite militia Hezbollah which has become increasingly involved in the war.
