World Bank estimates $216B needed to rebuild Syria after civil war

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DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Rebuilding Syria after over a decade of civil war is expected to cost about $216 billion, the World Bank said in an assessment published Tuesday. The cost is almost ten times Syria’s 2024 gross domestic product.

Syria’s civil war began in 2011 when mass protests against the government of then-President Bashar Assad were met with a brutal crackdown and spiraled into armed conflict. Assad was ousted in December in a lightning rebel offensive.

The conflict destroyed large swaths of the country and battered critical infrastructure, including its electrical grid.

The World Bank says the rebuilding may cost between $140 billion and $345 billion, but their “conservative best estimate” is $216 billion.

The World Bank estimates that rebuilding infrastructure will cost $82 billion. It estimated the cost of damages for residential buildings at $75 billion and $59 billion for non-residential structures.

The province of Aleppo and the Damascus countryside, where fierce battles took place, will require the most investment, according to the assessment.

“The challenges ahead are immense, but the World Bank stands ready to work alongside the Syrian people and the international community to support recovery and reconstruction,” World Bank Middle East Director Jean-Christophe Carret said in a statement.

Despite reestablishing diplomatic relations with the West and signing investment deals worth billions of dollars with Gulf countries since Assad was ousted, the country is still struggling financially.

While the United States and Europe have lifted many of the sanction s imposed during the rule of the Assad dynasty, the impact on the ground has so far been limited.

Cuts to international aid have worsened living conditions for many. The United Nations estimates that 90% of Syria’s population lives in poverty.