Syria: An Economic Survey 



Collateral loans secured by merchandise do not as yet play an 

 important role. The number of staples which might serve as col- 

 lateral, such as grain, wool, and sesame, is as yet limited. As there 

 are practically no modern warehouses, the banks are forced to 

 maintain storage rooms for merchandise on which money is loaned. 

 It is more frequent that money is loaned on shipments for foreign 

 trade than on merchandise within the country. Loans on real 

 estate do not exist on the whole. (The activities of the official 

 Banque Agricole which do not have any relation to actual banking 

 business cannot be considered in this connection.) The law makes 

 lending on mortgages difficult and does not permit the mortgages 

 to be recorded in the name of the bank. 



The interest paid by debtors ranges from 8 to 9 per cent. In 

 many cases a commission is charged in the form of a discount 

 amounting to from 1 to 3 per cent per annum. 



Current accounts and deposits are growing from year to year, 

 although real estate is still the favorite investment of the rich man. 

 The bank deposits in Syria are derived rather from private indi- 

 viduals than from industrial or commercial circles. 



It is very difficult to estimate the size of the assets and liabili- 

 ties of banking operations in Syria, as all the large firms except 

 the Anglo-Palestine Company do business throughout Turkey and 

 have no special reports concerning Syria. At an arbitrary estimate 

 the total of the assets of all Syrian banks (excluding private 

 bankers) before the war amounted to 46-49 million francs, the 

 total of the liabilities to 23-35 million francs, an insignificant 

 showing for a land of 4 million inhabitants. Among the other 

 activities of the banks is trading in foreign exchange. Before the 

 war the exchange in pounds sterling and francs played the main 

 role. In general all the Syrian banks accept the foreign exchange 

 prices of Beirut. In Beirut itself it is the Banque Imperiale Otto- 

 mane that has a preponderant influence in fixing the rate of ex- 

 change. The exchange is reckoned in Beirut piastres (1 Itq. equals 

 124 piastres of 25 para Beirut standard). By far the greatest part 

 of the export of all products is effected by documentary draft (with 

 bill of lading attached) or by the check remittance of the recipient. 



Apart from the real banks and bankers Syria has so-called 

 money lenders both in the favorable and unfavorable sense of the 

 word. In the favorable sense these are capitalists who want to 

 secure safe investments at a good rate of interest by lending their 

 money. In Palestine there are religious organizations and rich 

 Jews who let their money work in this way. Few of the natives 



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