Damascus, (SANA)-Governor of the Central Bank of Syria Dr. Adib Mayyala said a precise estimation of inward and outward investment will help provide more precise evaluation of national payment balance and form a basis for laying out future plans for Syrian national economy.

The remarks came during a "Seminar on Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)" held in Damascus on Tuesday with the participation of a number of Arab countries, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Middle East Technical Assistance Center (METAC).

Dr. Mayyala said FDI has surfaced as a promising solution to get out of the current economic recession, where most countries are now looking for strategies to stimulate their national economies and attract foreign investment.

As part of its plan to attract foreign investment into the banking sector, Syrian government has issued a number of laws and legislative decrees with regard to encouraging investment and reducing restrictions imposed on capital movement.

New laws on raising the capital of traditional private banks to SP 10 billion and that of Islamic banks to SP 15 billion, and raising the capital share of foreign partners to 60 % were issued as further steps towards attracting major world banks.

Director of IMF's Middle East Regional Technical Assistance Center Saada Shami said this meeting is important for sharing international experiences in the field of foreign direct investment, which requires preparing statistics and data on the flow and amount of foreign investment and capitals to come out with indications that would help governments set up policies to stimulate investment.

FDIs require a business relationship between a parent company and its foreign subsidiary. For an investment to be regarded as an FDI, the parent firm needs to have at least 10% of the ordinary shares of its foreign affiliates. The investing firm may also qualify for an FDI if it owns voting power in a business enterprise operating in a foreign country.

Foreign direct investment may be classified as Inward or Outward. Foreign direct investment, which is inward, is a typical form of what is termed as 'inward investment'. Here, investment of foreign capital occurs in local resources.

Foreign direct investment, which is outward, is also referred to as “direct investment abroad”. In this case it is the local capital, which is being invested in some foreign resource. Outward FDI flourishes under government backed insurance at risk coverage.

Haifa Said /Idelbi