Istanbul: The Syrian government may offer a licence for Turkish state-owned lender TC Ziraat Bankasi before the end of the year to set up a bank in the Arab country, Finance Minister Mohammad Al Hussain said yesterday.
Syrian authorities will meet representatives of Ziraat Bankasi in two weeks in Damascus to discuss ownership of the new unit, with the Finance Ministry willing to offer the Turkish lender a 60 per cent stake in the venture, he said.
"I promised that if they submit the file I will give them a licence before the end of the year," Al Hussain told reporters at an Arab-Turkish economic forum in Istanbul.
The Syrian partners in the bank may be "some state institutions or from the Syrian private sector," he said.
The ministry also offered Turkey's Akbank TAS, the largest Turkish publicly traded company by market capitalisation, an appointment to discuss the establishment of a bank in Syria "but the meeting didn't happen," Al Hussain said.
Syria is encouraging the development of private industry in its state-dominated economy, opening its first stock exchange in 2009. The International Monetary Fund has urged Syria to quicken its transition to a more open, market-based economy while reducing its dependence on the oil industry.
Foreign banks operating in Syria include Blom Bank and Banque Audi of Lebanon.
"The Syrian economy may grow more than five per cent this year, below the government's target of seven per cent," Al Hussain said.
The Finance Ministry expects the budget deficit to remain below five per cent of gross domestic product this year, compared with 4 per cent in 2009, Al Hussain said. "This is very good for Syria and the Syrian economy."
The government will start a five-year economic plan in 2011, targeting a growth rate of at least seven per cent, he said.
Under the plan, the ministry will invest at least $40 billion to help create jobs, he said, adding that unemployment stands at between eight per cent and nine per cent.
