The number of investment projects licensed by the Syrian Investment Agency fell by 84 percent year on year during the first quarter of 2012.

Figures released by the SIA show the total number of investments licensed by the agency at 15 in the first three months of the year from 96 for the same period of 2011. The capital value of the projects stands at SYP 11.3 billion – no comparative figure is available for the first quarter of last year.

The data confirm the significant contraction in investments in the country. For the whole of last year, the total number of projects licensed by the SIA halved compared to 2010 although in terms of capital invested the numbers had remained stable from a year earlier.

SIA grants licenses to investors that wish to benefit from incentives provided in the latest investment law adopted by the Syrian Government. Its frame of operations does not include all business sectors – hence investments in tourism, financial services, oil and gas and real estate are processed by other regulatory bodies such as the Central Bank or the Ministry of Oil.

The agency covers three main areas: manufacturing, transport and agriculture. Hence, among the 15 projects of the first quarter 8 are in the manufacturing sector, 4 in agriculture and 3 in transport.

Ventures in manufacturing include the recently announced construction of an asphalt based oil refinery by Turkish investors – worth SYP 393.6 million - in addition to projects in the textile industry among others. The geographic breakdown of the investments shows 4 projects to be located in the Raqqa Governorate, 3 in Suweida, 2 in Deir-ez-Zor and one each in Aleppo, Hama, Homs, Daraa, Hassakeh and Rural Damascus.