Russia Discussing Giving Loan to Damascus

Russia and Syria are discussing the possibility of Moscow extending a loan to Damascus to help Syria's civil war battered economy, a top Syrian official said Monday.

Visiting Syrian Deputy Prime Minister Qadri Jamil said that the issue was discussed at talks with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Damascus hoped for an agreement by the end of the year.

"We discussed it, although it is still early to talk in concrete figures," Jamil said, quoted by Russian news agencies.

President Bashar Assad's regime is in urgent need of new sources of cash to make ends meet as it battles rebels in a conflict that has lasted over two years and according to activists has killed over 100,000 people.

The last figures for inflation in Syria, published in December 2012, put it at 55.2 percent.

The violence in Syria has pushed more than 1.7 million people abroad, and more than four million others are displaced inside their country.

It has also brought international sanctions against Syria, which are aimed at putting pressure on the regime in Damascus, but have had knock-on economic impacts that effect all Syrians.

On the macro level, Syria faces a massive economic crisis, experts say.

Investments and tourism stand at practically zero, and oil production -- a major source of foreign currency for Syria -- has plummeted by 95 percent.

Foreign trade alone fell by over 97 percent in 2012, and the World Bank says Syria's GDP dropped by 30 percent last year, and anticipates another 10 percent drop in 2013.

But the Syrian regime has had some help from allies. Iran has extended lines of credit worth $4 billion to help prop up the government, which insists the economy is coping.