A Damascene stock market has been in the cards for a number of years, gradually taking fruition over the past three years in anticipation of the slated launch in early 2008. With the launch of the bourse, Syria will finally join the regional stock market club that has rapidly expanded over the past decade. Only Syria, Libya and Yemen are absent from this now not-so-exclusive group, with even Khartoum and war-torn Baghdad trading shares. Establishing a bourse is not without its obstacles, particularly in a country that is slowly opening up economically and with minimal financial market experience — Syria definitely doesn’t want to ride the roller coaster that the fledgling Gulf bourses went on in the past few years, particularly Saudi Arabia, which saw nine million investors stung last year when stock prices plunged. But the decision to set up a Securities Exchange is considered vital to boosting investment
