Saudi Arabia and Qatar pledge $89M for Syrian public sector: What to know
The new Syrian government has struggled to pay public workers sufficiently and is implementing a plan aimed at rooting out “ghost employees" who do not show up to work.
Saudi Arabia and Qatar pledged $89 million in support of Syrian public sector employees on Wednesday, in the latest sign of Gulf efforts to boost the struggling sector.
The initiative from the Qatar Fund for Development and the Saudi Fund for Development is in partnership with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). The assistance will be provided for a period of three months in order to “ensure the continuity of essential public services across Syria,” the two funds, UNDP and the Syrian government said in statements.
The money will enable payment of an unspecified “portion” of government employees’ salaries, per the statements. The announcement was made on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.
Payment struggles
