UN envoy urges donor support for battered Syria facing an economic crisis

KAREEM CHEHAYEB and ALBERT AJI
Associated Press

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — The United Nations special envoy for Syria Sunday has urged donors not to reduce their funding as the war-torn country’s economic crisis spirals. Syrian President Bashar Assad’s decision to double public sector wages and pensions last month further skyrocketed inflation and fueled ongoing protests that shook the southern Druze-majority province of Sweida and nearby Daraa. “The situation inside of Syria has become even worse than it was economically during the height of the conflict,” U.N. special envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, told reporters Sunday in Damascus following a meeting with the Syrian foreign minister. The U.N. estimates that 90% of Syrians in government-held areas live in poverty.