Syria and Saudi Arabia signed deals on Saturday that include a joint airline and a $1-billion project to develop telecommunications, officials said, as Syria seeks to rebuild after years of war.

The new authorities in Damascus, who took power after toppling longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in December 2024, have worked to attract investment and have signed major agreements with several companies and governments, including Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states.

Syrian Investment Authority chief Talal al-Hilali announced a series of deals, including “a low-cost Syrian-Saudi airline aimed at strengthening regional and international air links”.

The agreement also includes the development of a new international airport in the northern city of Aleppo and the redevelopment of the existing facility.

Hilali also announced an agreement for a project called SilkLink to develop Syria’s “telecommunications infrastructure and digital connectivity”.

Syrian Telecommunications Minister Abdulsalam Haykal told the signing ceremony that the project would be implemented “with an investment of around $1 billion”.

For decades, Syria was unable to secure significant investments because of Assad-era sanctions.

But the United States fully removed its remaining sanctions on Damascus late last year, paving the way for the full return of investments.

Syria and Saudi Arabia also inked an agreement on water desalination and development cooperation on Saturday.

At the ceremony, Saudi Investment Minister Khalid Al-Falih announced the launch of an investment fund for “major projects in Syria with the participation of the [Saudi] private sector”.

The deals are part of “building a strategic partnership” between the two countries, he said.

Syria’s Hilali said the agreements targeted “vital sectors that impact people’s lives and form essential pillars for rebuilding the Syrian economy”.

Syria has begun the mammoth task of trying to rebuild its shattered infrastructure and economy.

In July last year, Riyadh signed investment and partnership deals with Damascus valued at $6.4bn to help rebuild the country’s infrastructure, telecommunications and other major sectors.

A month later, Syria signed agreements worth more than $14bn, including investments in Damascus airport and other transport and real estate projects.

This week, Syria signed a preliminary deal with US energy giant Chevron and Qatari firm Power International to explore for oil and gas offshore.

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A South Korean cryptocurrency exchange apologised on Saturday after mistakenly transferring more than $40 billion worth of bitcoin to users, which briefly prompted a selloff on the platform.

Bithumb said it accidentally sent 620,000 bitcoins, currently worth more than $40bn, and blocked trading and withdrawals for the 695 affected users within 35 minutes after the error occurred on Friday.

According to local reports, Bithumb was meant to send about 2,000 South Korean won ($1.37) to each customer as part of a promotion, but mistakenly transferred roughly 2,000 bitcoins per user.

“We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience caused to our customers due to the confusion that occurred during the distribution process of this (promotional) event,” Bithumb said in a statement.

The platform said it had recovered 99.7 per cent of the mistakenly sent bitcoins, and that it would use its own assets to fully cover the amount that was lost in the incident.

It admitted the error briefly caused “sharp volatility” in bitcoin prices on the platform as some recipients sold the tokens, adding that it brought the situation under control within five minutes.

Its charts showed the token’s prices briefly went down 17pc to 81.1 million won on the platform late Friday.

In a separate statement released later on Saturday, Bithumb said some trades were executed at unfavourable prices for users due to a price drop during the incident on Friday, including “panic selling”.

The platform said it would compensate affected customers, covering the full price difference as well as a 10pc bonus.

It estimated losses at about 1bn won.

The platform earlier stressed that the incident was “unrelated to external hacking or security breaches”.

Bitcoin, the world’s biggest cryptocurrency, sank this week, wiping out gains sparked by US President Donald Trump’s presidential election victory in November 2024.

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KARACHI: Although the government raised over Rs24 trillion through borrowing and enhanced revenues during the past two and a half years, heavy bank borrowing reduced the availability of credit for the private sector, constraining economic growth.

Official data released by the State Bank showed the government borrowed Rs8.519tr from banks in FY24, Rs5.434tr in FY25 and Rs2.1tr in the first seven months of the current fiscal year (FY26).

Total borrowing from banks during this period reached Rs16tr, almost 50 per cent of the total stock of government borrowing (Rs32.3tr) at the end of June 2025.

The country’s revenues nearly doubled in two years, marking a major turnaround, as the government’s total revenues jumped from Rs9.6tr to almost Rs18tr. This increase was driven by higher tax collection, new taxes and support from the central bank.

Revenues nearly doubled from Rs9.6tr to almost Rs18tr in two years

During this period, the government raised additional liquidity of Rs24.5tr through bank borrowing and higher revenue generation, but this was not reflected in the economy in terms of growth.

Despite this huge liquidity, the government could not accelerate economic activity, either due to policy failure or misdirected spending. The negative impact of banks’ lending to the government appeared in reduced lending to the private sector, which stood at a cumulative Rs2.2tr during the same period.

The staggering figure of Rs24tr appears sufficient to bring vital change to the economy, but spending remained unproductive, and for the last three years the country has struggled to achieve a better growth rate. The GDP growth target for this year is 3.7 to 4.7pc, and the State

Bank believes 3.7pc could be achieved in FY26.

However, despite low inflation of 5.6pc, the State Bank is not ready to cut the interest rate to allow a higher flow of liquidity to the private sector. The only recent incentive announced for the export sector was a reduction in the refinancing rate. The export sector has not shown any significant improvement.

Trade and industry have been demanding an interest rate in line with inflation, but policymakers appear satisfied with low but stable growth. Low economic growth has increased poverty each year, with 46pc of the population living below the poverty line.

The government has not presented any plan to address this serious issue of rising poverty. Low growth continues to increase unemployment and poverty, which is being addressed largely through charity.

Published in Dawn, February 7th, 2026

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