In a LinkedIn post on Monday, 27 October, Bernieh said that his participation with Central Bank Governor  Abdul Qader Hasriyeh, in the IMF and World Bank Annual Meetings, produced the following:

IMF

• Agreement on multiple strands of technical assistance covering fiscal and banking reform, public finance, statistics, and public debt management.
• Understanding to receive an IMF mission within six months, which he said would provide useful material for investors interested in Syria and could pave the way for an economic and fiscal reform program not tied to loans, known as a Staff Monitored Program.
• Lifting of security restrictions that had previously impeded IMF missions in Syria.

World Bank

• Agreement to receive around six technical assistance missions in the coming weeks and months in energy, water, education, health, transport, public financial management, and financial infrastructure.
• Understanding to work jointly on financing several projects over the next three years through grants totaling about 1 billion USD across the sectors Syria will designate.
• Renewal of relations with the International Finance Corporation and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency to support investment attraction and encourage the private sector.

Regarding meetings with United States financial authorities, Bernieh said the relationship had moved from consultation to cooperation and partnership, particularly with the United States Department of the Treasury. He added that several meetings were also held with American financial and banking institutions.

A strategic shift

Bernieh noted multiple meetings with various Arab and regional funds that he said will expand cooperation and projects in the near future. He thanked the IMF and World Bank leadership for what he described as strong attention to Syria reflected in rapid responses to the Finance Ministry’s requests. He wrote that Syria should leverage this attention in service of its development and reconstruction agenda, adding that the visit achieved a qualitative and strategic shift in relations with the two global financial institutions.

Pursuit of a 1 billion USD grant package

Syria is seeking around 1 billion USD in World Bank grants as it participates for the first time in more than a decade in the IMF and World Bank meetings in Washington. In earlier LinkedIn posts on 18 October, following a meeting with World Bank Vice President for Development Finance Akihiko Nishio, Bernieh said Syria aims to obtain roughly 1 billion USD in grants over the next three years, with discussions focused on the grant components and associated conditions, and what he called Syria’s clarity of options on that front.