it's you beyond the headlines of the country. if you're not chose, you're not in tights of the same sense of price award winning force or funding. my brutal meets renowned out a standing in human rights defend a lot about the whole young generation. they have centered palestine as part of their identity as such a innovation that was the defense world. reframe on a jersey to the hello and i drew and said again, this is counting the cost on al jazeera. you'll wish to look at the world of business that he could on this week. serious new leaders have inherited an economy in ruined. so how can they rebuild the nation at home? will fucked. the bill ukraine has halted russia's gas flows to europe,

but who does the decision? how most moscow cheese or european nations? a sales of foreign smartphones of whom was tough to china? apple is the main loser, so have chinese consumers lost the taste to iphones? off to almost 14 years of civil war, syria as president bush, all of us out has gone. but the nation's economy has been decimation most of its oil and gas well as roads, electricity, grid, farm land, and the infrastructure a damaged, crippling the economy. even a saw there is a wide range of western sanctions imposed combination and on. busy top of you, i'll show him the main group the other through i'll aside that is now leading serious transition. those measures prevented all sides government from doing business with other nations and private companies. they've also had put the delivery of much needed. a video administration says that the lifting those sanctions is vital to help rebuild the country, but will they ever be removed?

we'll discuss that with august shortly. but 1st the report from sent them on the oh. with the see the all said government. syrians are hoping for a new beginning with reviving the economy will be a serious challenge. more than a decade of war has devastated the economy. gdp is full and 85 percent since 2011. infrastructure lies in ruins, electricity transport and health services will need to be rebuilt. 90 percent of the population lives below the poverty line unemployment as high inflation as left most people struggling to get by. the new series administration under our mental shara is taking action on the economy. it's raised public sector salaries by 400 percent and taking steps to stabilize the local currency. in the past will provide a quarter of serious public revenue reviving this could be key to recovery if it were possible to revitalize the energy sector. it would not only help address power

shortages within syria, but it would provide the government with a much much stronger revenue stream that it could then put to use rebuilding capacity for industry to recover. but the reconstruction will be impossible, so long as the international sanctions remain in place. the new administration is making a diplomatic push to get them lifted, saying they shouldn't be punished for the crimes of the us out era. who we disagree with the most important thing is to remove the restriction so that countries and companies can start high level investments, especially in his industry, energy, oil, and other things. if this tensions remain for a long time, or if they're not frozen, i think that a catastrophe will hit the syrian people, gulf states and took a, have been sending a to syria and the us as relax some restrictions on humanitarian supplies. but western governments are cautious. many include the leaders of the new

administration on their list of terrorist is the signal that sanctions won't be lifted until it shows it will protect minorities and share power. is almost obviously what i have made it clear that the political process is closely linked to the economic reconstruction process. especially for a european constitutional stance with regard to sanctions and reconstruction through financial supports. syria has entered a new era, but the road to recovery is uncertain as likely to be a long one. vince and monica and l just sierra for counting the cost to sit on the head top. that is a non resident city, a fellow for the serial project of the atlantic council. he specializes in political avoid economies, especially within syria. and he joins us now from the syrian capital, damascus, where the internet is still a bit apache, it time said i'm good to have you with us. so what is the current state of the syrian economy right now? yeah, so this, remember, this is

a country that came out from after 14 years of the war that was already raised by corruption and going through privatization is today we are speaking of nearly 90 percent of the conditions of living below the poverty line, an optimum act rates exceeding 50 percent, and private and productive sector, such as of the culture and manufacturing have shrunk by nearly 60 percent compared to pre war levels. the shields in volume or of destruction is estimated at as high as $200000000000.00. so i'm assuming it's because even higher than the reconstruction of the country with cost that on at least $50000000000.00. so how much ok, sanction is crippling the economy right now? your wellness actually has does come for a lot specially the sanctions on the backing sector. and that new restrictive uh, this was

a very efficient instrument and carpeting the seat and economy before the top of down of the shuttle assets. but now it is also company tripping the capacity of the seed and people to uplift themselves. we estimates that without the lifting affections it would take at least 3 times. it's much more uh to recuperate and to be able to produce. again, this is crucial in order to bring in little material funding, you know, from the international not from international markets, and also crucial for private sector to engage them to the local economy. without this private citizen international one, whether it's regional or owned by cd and the last 4 i brought to also the public sector won't be able to defend for this. even people are serious. finance minister has said that the government is going to hike the, the pay off public sector workers, but as much as 400 percent next month can kind of you go from

a default to do that. not without king of people and around 25 percent of the cd and population is working in the private sector. and around 40 to 60 percent of the state expenditure goes to financing the salaries of the public sector. so if they do not have financial from the health from other countries in the region specifically cuts out or, or turkey or so the, any, the evelyn uh, they won't be able to afford the 2 of the main pillows. so none of the, the city and economy on, or of course oil and agricultural, the oil fields on the control of the us bacteria and democratic forces of a nation. will this be deprived of of a main source of income? are there any other sectors in which the government can invest to kick, stop the economy and make up for that short as well as collection in the season? manufacturers used to have a very good reputation before the southern end of

a 60 percent of the seed in economy was responsible and was this fund. and basically the results of the same ease of working in trade and manufacturing as well as in logistics. see to remain a very important to us both dish and hop. and the reason of is me to tell you in the basin, and you can leverage this position again. but it also needs because systems and investment in roads, in energy for, in order to, to get to pick up manufacturing again. and there is also a lot of work and if it's needed to upgrade the workforce to uh, to build the capacity again, they have been deprived for the last 14 years. i'm learning the new trains in the word, and this will take time. how much is reconstruction going to cost? who's going to pay for it and how? how quickly can serious economy gets back on its feet. the most optimistic

estimates say around 10 to 15 years to have it to p. and if, and that's just something that have been a status which wasn't great and the 1st place, i think we still have at least 2 or 3 that has to be c. c. the 1st thing is fully potential of the construction, just physically one cost. i don't. $13000000000.00 got doesn't count the cost of training. the new workforce is the cost of the vps and bringing back refuse use from turkey, from europe, from the other regional also hosts countries. and so you can set a loan won't be able to fund this, the international community needs to invest if they want to see the stipulation of the country under the agent at large. obviously, a, the out of the gulf countries are the 1st to be expected to ship in,

but also europe should be participating actively, actively, if they want to also see it to be possible for a lot of there's a couple of very tough countries that is participating in the security of the media center, it's been really good store to on counting the cost manufacturing data, being with us for just it was the last major russian gas route to europe. a pipeline passing through re crane has recently run dry. chief, has refused to review a transit deal after it expired last week. a europe is already significantly comp moscow share of its gas imports following the loss of invasion of ukraine in 2022. while the decision does deprive russia of solve its gas revenue, keith is also set to lose millions of dollars in transit phase. and the impact of that hold could ripple through europe's energy sector is our expense reports. russia had loan being one of your biggest gas supplies about the war and ukraine

has reduced those inputs to a fraction of what they once were. now a 5 year deal between russia and ukraine has expired, shutting off a key pipeline into the european union. i'm gonna stick with the what's the point is we will always in favor of gas appliance of the supply is being above politics of the and being purely economic methods. we need a seed not just applies to euro. the deal was with almost a $1000000000.00 to ukraine last year, boss. it saves those payments, have helped the russian boy, if it, russia is now expected to lose $5000000000.00 in annual revenue. so back here is one of several e u members. i'm happy about the move. it's prime minister, real good faith so visited most go in the same, but so vakio relied on guessing ports vi ukraine and made money from transit fees. the finding alternate routes may be costly, outside the you mold over is was affected. it's being forced to impose

a 60 day state of emergency and its energy sector before rusher invited ukraine in 2022. it was the biggest supplier of gas to the you providing more than 50 percent in 2021. but since reducing is dependency of to invest in phase and the you impose to just 8 percent in 2023. they are alternatives, but they are attempt to be a bit more expensive than the russian pipeline. guess the impact will be solid, especially in australia and hungry in slovakia, where the price of gas will likely rise. and this could have an impact on the consumer prices on the costs of living, but also on, on prices for industry. most rushing guess routes the europe shots, including the node stream to pipeline, onto the baltic. that was blown up in 2022. but the shuts down of the pipeline through ukraine, one stop rushing guess from entering europe. so the 2 extreme pipeline is still

operational supply. and guess 1st it took a vein to hungry and silvia and didn't ports of russian liquefied natural gas to the you raise to record highs last year, raising questions about the effectiveness of sanctions on russia. that's all designed to limit funding for it's for in ukraine. alex bid l g 0 for counting the cost. while the discuss all of this, we're joined down from oxford in the u. k. by jack shop, or if he's a senior research fellow at the natural gas research program at the oxford institute energy studies director to have you with us. so why exactly has ukraine refused to renew this agreement? that will allow the tons of russian gas across it's, tara treat to europe. so i think this is a calculation on the thoughts of the ukrainians that as your previous report mentioned, that. ready the ukraine will lose money from the end of transit. they want to deny russia any revenues that can be used, obviously to fund this that continue in. ready and you credit for it, so how,

how damaging will this be to watch or how much money is it going to get a news that it will be put towards? it's for able to put towards as more effort. so this is really into parts. firstly, it concerns the tax revenues that go to the russian federal budget. the oil and gas sector and russia has a hold accounts for about the versus federal budget revenues. all stats about 20 percent is derived from the gas sector and 80 percent of the old sector. and those gas sector revenues a split between a tax on gas as it's produced in russia, the coordinator like struction tax or royalties and customs duty on the exports of cost to euro, which is levied at about 30 percent off the the values that export. so from a you credit in perspective, for every cubic meter less the russia produces and then delivered to your, that's less money going into the russian federal budget. so, who has most to lose here? russia, ukraine, some estimates reckoned the ukraine is going to lose something like $800000000.00 a year in terms of fees can, can you kind afford to lose that money? is?

that's an excellent question. so from the russian perspective, what they're going to lose is relatively small compared to the size of the air economy and the size of the federal budget. from the ukranian perspective, where the economy is already facing extremely challenging conditions as a result of the war. this is money that they can afford to lose, but clearly this is a strategic calculation that they've made. and i think the ukranian energy ministry, the ukranian government, c, ukraine's energy future as well as being part of the integrated european gas market rather than as a conduit for russian gas. so they've already started to develop a business case encouraging europe and gas market participants to use ukrainian on the account gas storage to use the territory of west and ukraine to deliver gas from uh to the north, to south and one past due to the other. so they're developing a different business model, but obviously that is in a ton of war. extremely challenging to do. europe has been trying to win itself off

russian gas for quite some time since since the and the invasion of, of ukraine has it succeeded in doing that. are they going to be european nations that will be hot by this moving at what cost? so i think you're has been extraordinarily successful at coping with the loss of russian gas particular the russian pipeline gas that was coming into the european market price of the full scale invasion of ukraine. europe has coped into ways possibly by reducing overall gas consumption, which is pulling by about a 5th between 20212023. and then full in slightly again in 2024. and the other thing that your has done is gone out into the global energy market and secured alternative supplies. we've been very lucky. the conditions with some more favorable for doing so in 20222023. and those, those inputs fell back of 182024 hour notice, expect them to rise again in 2025. so your house has managed in terms of the effect

of particularly ukrainian transit. it, it is a 0 earlier report highlighted predominantly going to affect central european countries there. i think it's less a question of any threat to physical shortage. a more just an impact on prices. those countries are well connected to the naples within the you, they can import costs across the board. or for example, from germany into the czech republic in australia and slovakia, and from italy into austria. and those countries and send to you also have quite substantial seasonal gas storage stocks relative to the size of that market. so there's no danger of going physically short over the winter, but it is just pushing prices up a little bit and keeping them at that current high level and keeping the market that little bit tighter. does this move? so bring to an end russia's once dominance of, of the new energy market. yes, i think it does. i think this is another milestone on that journey. if you consider the side of the russian and gas pipeline gas applies to your peaks in 2019, at the shy 180000000000 cubic meters last year,

they was 30000000 cubic meters. and with the end of this project by ukraine in 2025, we would anticipate it to be around 15000000000 cubic meters. so this is an absolutely huge decline in russian pipeline. gus, apply to you a decline of over 90 percent in the space of a few short years. so i think this does really almost bring to a close to the reflection pipeline gas in europe. we do still have russian pipeline gas coming into southeast in europe via the tucker stream pipeline, up through bulk area to greece, almost to serbia, enough as far as hungry. but that's really now the extent of that market. it's a regional, localized se european. if a check has been really good to talk to you today on constant the costs many thanks for being with us. a thank you very much. i'm going, as government says that it will continue with this plan, is to remove fuels subsidies by the end of 2025. politicians say that removing subsidies will free up money for central public services like transport,

health and education. but the move is unpopular. that's how we would pass the reports from the one to call us. the santos is a high school teacher in angola. his salary isn't enough to ensure he can pay all his monthly bills. but he says government to fuel subsidies, help cushion consumers from rising prices. and that's why he is worried about politicians plans to scrap them. laugh at that. as i mentioned, boston see that the utah pockets ones to show subsidies. i remove prices and everything will go up. you to hit to spit right now. and goal is pay by $0.35 for lead to a pedro. and about $0.21 for diesel removing subsidies means that will pay more at the pump. life is already a struggle for many and goldens. kenneth followed. she left the country in 1980 during the civil war. he came back in 2003, a year after the war ended. he says few people benefits from the countries of aust

. oil well, surviving and realize that high. oh is the sacrifice because of the there is no work. there is no work, whatever we go that they say done what i would know work and going to is that for just 2nd largest produce of crude oil. so the carter must say, that's a problem. we have to defend that on the account. 99 percent of products, spots a 30 percent off the cdp and about 60 percent off the the public income. so when's it all is good and all is good when the oil is bad, involved is bad. but now it's not only the price will effect some goal because our production is decreasing when fuel prices daily doubled in 2023 people protested in the capital lawanda police the at least 5 were killed in the interest

protest against plan to remove subsidies have also being held in of the african countries such as nigeria. many applicant countries are in debt. and this push on developing countries from bodies that the international monetary fund to cut public spending and introduced economic policies. the company proved tough for people already suffering poverty and financial difficulty. oil has helped him go into grow economy in the capital. there is a lot of development new buildings keep going up. those over there, some of them, a oil companies and other businesses for many people. yeah, i still think this is one of the world's most an equal economies. more than half of people. 8 under $25.00, a jobless. and for all those facing hardship, removing fuel subsidies won't be popular. hardaman tasks out there for counting the cost. a china is the world's largest smartphone, locked in for brands of long enjoyed strong sales in the nation. but local

manufacturers have stepped up, the competition of late, a strong challenger is far away with its homegrown operating system and it appears to be posing serious challenges mainly to the us from apple. the tech jobs baffled to keep its iphone popular in the chinese market, is now getting even tough up. the government backed china academy of information in communications. technology says with foreign smart phone shipments dropped by almost tough in november. apple accounts for the majority of for mobile phone shipments in china. other competitors, like samsung control only a tiny fraction of the market the, the company aims to accelerate the road out of its due generative a features to iphones in china to try to regain its 1st thing that and its offer discounts to attract shiny shop has had a balloon a new year. the phone has reduced the price of its latest concepts by up to $70.00 . charlie's phone make a huawei as also cut price is by as much as 20 percent. china would expand consumption subsidies to cover smartphones of electronics and

a bit to encourage domestic spending and to offset the effects of any new us targets on its exports. well will wong is a senior research manager id. see a global market intelligence data firm way covers the mobile phone mock if he joins us now from sample kentucky with as well. so why have sales of for and phones in particular are full and so sharply in china. yeah, so 1st thing for different brands in china, like what you have mentioned just now it's majorly accounted by epa. so samsung is over there as well. but a per account it for a major share over there has been in the top fine for like, for a long time. so when we talked about from brands and china, we talked about that but the self. so why is facing for those challenges? so what we see is says dot most the x and those sectors x and that changes. so 1st thing is consumers, consumers in china have change. so the foremost sentiment is not

as strong as before, especially comparing. we've pre coates situations pre colby's times. so formal payoff, missing allison's money, stop destro anymore. so the more cautious right now is bandy dumble price countries right now in the bank, especially for the high end production. so that's one thing. and the other thing is about the competitions. so we see comedy shows from wal way and other chinese o u. s. as well, they're introducing more products like personal food, about phones and both. so like a futures in china. this is creating social boss and really attracting those consumers in china. so when they're reading this kind of social boss is easily attracting those consumers why more price closures and looking for a value in china. but what we see is that at the desk do having us from customers taking us over there. so the strong cosmetic in us is actually supporting the

performance of that. but, but if we look at overall pictures, uh, customer ones, you more size change. and also the company shows is really affecting at the, in china, locally. so this is 1000 can see of a preference. what does apple the need to do to regain its foothold and still in the top 5 in china? i mean, i have a time slipped out, but what does it need to do to regain? can see have a preference cuz they have to win back consumers in china. yeah, it need to create more while factors. so right now what we are looking at is a i, but uh, when it comes to a i, when it comes to china, it needs the approval from chinese government as well. and that is not easy. things right now, especially students. there's a, there's a, you asked china tensions over there, so he's not easy things. so he is southwick, if it's a kind of really crate walls that goes from the effect drugs from the ad, beatrice and other things you can focus on is creating walls that goes from

hardware perspective. so from hardware perspective and from a i, this is something desktop i can look at it, it's which is, is summer is quite a while back. there's 2 different ones you must to make. then keep spending a poll as often discounts on its products. but china has recently decided to subsidize homegrown smartphones and other electronics. some of these like to put for the pressure on, on, on apple. in particular, as you say, some samsung isn't really affected here because it's market share so small, but it's not going to affect awful. we see that the impact will be limited. so 1st thing, this subsidies is salt times. so in terms of the impact and in terms of the type you're, it will bring the impact the impact. well, believe that in some of the time periods, so it's a continuous, that's the subsidies is quantity available in southern provinces or incidence cities. so in terms of scale, it will be limited as well. and if we come to the epa at book 100 months usually is

in the high and the high income is yours. but we have to look at it is that consumers in china right now, even in high and they're looking for discount as well. so even though it is limited to the input from the subsidies, the overall across economy situations impact is larger. well, as regards to talk to you about an effective date. thank you. apple siri could be listening to use us without the consent. apples agreed to pay $95000000.00 to settle a court case alleging that its voice activated assistant violates it uses previously . i followed on those complaint that the voice recordings were shared with the policies, including advertises. the tech firm is denied any wrongdoing, and the preliminary resettlement filed at the open california federal court. and that's a show for this week. if you'd like to comments on anything that you've seen, i'm at a finnegan on x twice. remember to use the hash tag h i c t c. or you can drop us a line counting the cost of the elder 0 dot net is our email address,

as always does more for you online. at l 0. don't. com slash ctc. that takes you straight to a page. and then you'll find individual reports links at a top additions for you to catch up on. but that's it for this edition of counting the cost. i'm a tree instead of going from the team here though. ha, thanks for being with us. the news on elder 0 is the iraq, a nation riddled with land mines and an expert dedicated to defusing them, one by one equip with only a 9 and the pairs wired plus the faces death every day for does is, would make you make you or talk with the minor on that it just need a specialized criminal gangs of reading south africa. cities,

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