The Ministry of Economy has published its rules of classification for small and medium enterprises as it prepares to launch a fund dedicated to them.
The Ministry said that it would classify as micro-enterprises all companies that had 10 employees or less and an annual turnover of no more than SYP 3 million. Small companies are those that have less than 50 employees, an annual turnover of less than SYP 50 million and a balance sheet also of a maximum of SYP 50 million.
 
Meanwhile, medium-sized enterprises are companies that have less than 250 employees, annual sales of less than SYP 250 million and a balance sheet also of less than SYP 250 million.
 
This classification comes as the Ministry of Economy is preparing to launch an SME-dedicated fund to help small Syrian corporations get access to financing. SMEs make up an estimated 75 percent of all companies registered in Syria.
 
It is not the first time such a scheme is being announced by the Government to support small companies. Several similar projects have been in the making in recent years, including the set-up of a loan guarantee institution.
 
However, few of these projects have materialised. Even the few that have had some success, such as a fund financed by the European Investment Bank since 2006 and run in cooperation with local banks, faced various sorts of problems, including the lack of preparedness of local companies and lack of availability of financial data. This scheme has been suspended following the imposition of European sanctions on the country.