Syria chalked up numerous successes in 2007. Politically, the country ended its international isolation. On the domestic front, the government continued — however cautiously — to open the economy. The country’s private banking and insurance sectors both posted healthy gains, bricks and mortar finally began to be put in place on a number of high profile real estate developments, the country’s first private university graduates hit the job market and the first Syrian produced car rolled off the production line, a joint Syrian-Iranian venture. The coming year, however, presents greater challenges on the economic front. Over 2007, Syrians learned they had become net oil importers, exploding the budget deficit. Throughout 2008, debate over the need to reduce fuel subsidies and reform a bloated public sector is set to pitch a new wave of Syrian economic reformers against old guard Baathists in ever more heated argument. Tough decision regarding the economic
