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Since the current president took office, the Syrian economic system has slowly moved away from socialism towards capitalism. Markets have opened up to foreign companies and the GDP growth rate Discount Tiffany Watches expected to reach 5.5 per cent by 2011.Last year, the average Syrian montly salary was 13,500SP ($290), an increase of six per cent over the previous year, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics.But like in some other countries in the region, state subsidies have been slashed on various staples, including heating oil, and analysts say the poor are feeling the pinch.

"The bottom half of Syrians spend half of their income on food. Now, wheat and sugar prices have gone up in the last two years by almost 50 per cent," Landis says."Syria is Discount Tiffany Rings towards capitalism. This has resulted in a greater growth rate but it's expanding income gaps. It's attracting foreign investment and the top 10 per cent are beginning to earn real salaries on Discount Tiffany Notes international scale because they're working for these new banks and in new industries. But the bottom 50 per cent are falling because they're on fixed incomes and they get hit by inflation, reduced subsidies on goods, coupled with the fact that Syria's water scarcity is going through the roof."

However, Forward Magazine recently quoted Shafek Arbach, director of the Syrian Bureau of Statistics, as saying there is nothing in new data to suggest a growing gap between the rich and the poor in Syria.'Reforms needed'In an interview with the Wall Street Journal late January, President al-Assad acknowledged the need for Syria to reform and but also said his country is "immune" from the kind of unrest seen in Tunisia and Egypt."We have more difficult Discount Tiffany Money Clips than most of the Arab countries but in spite of that Syria is stable. Why? Because you have to be very closely linked to the beliefs of the people. This is the core issue. When there is divergence between your policy and the people's beliefs and interests, you will have this vacuum that creates disturbance," he said.