The Syrian government set out its 2001 budget to parliament Saturday, aiming to cut the deficit by 25 percent while at the same time hiking spending by 16.9 percent, the official SANA news agency reported.
Spending for 2001 is estimated at 322 billion Syrian pounds ($7 billion), and revenues of SP312.79 billion ($6.8 billion), according to the plan set out by Finance Minister Mohammad Khaled Mahayni.
The planned deficit of SP9.2 billion ($200 million) is 25 percent down on this year. The Syrian parliament should vote on the budget before the start of the next financial year, January 1. — (AFP, Damascus)
© Agence France Presse 2000
