The Five-year Plans for Economic Expansion and the Advancement of Society () were economic development projects in Syria during the Ba'ath Party rule (1963–2024), inspired by the Soviet model. The goals set within the framework of Ba'athist five-year plans are known as National Development Goals. The first five-year plan was introduced before the Ba'ath Party came to power, but it ended under it. The main essence and direction of the five-year plans are mainly discussed at meetings of the Central Committee of the Ba'ath Party. The main role in the formulation and approval of Five-Year Plans is played by the so-called State Planning Commission.

Since 2011, the Five-Year Plans have ceased to be implemented, although they have not been officially cancelled. Starting in 2014, the Bashar al-Assad regime announced a transition to three-year plans. The failure of the first five-year plans could be explained by political instability, while the last one was marked by civil war. In total, ten five-year plans were implemented and eleven were announced.

History The five-year plan system first came to Syria in 1958, when the country united with Egypt to form the United Arab Republic, and fell victim to the implementation of extremely aggressive socialist and Nasserist policies. When Syria united with Egypt, the new government embarked on a large-scale nationalization of enterprises. The first Five-Year Plan was adopted two years later, in 1960. However, in 1961, a coup by disgruntled officers led to Syria's secession from Egypt and the virtual collapse of the UAR. Another coup occurred in 1963, bringing the Military Committee of the Ba'ath Party to power. Although there were initially some signs of renewed rapprochement with Egypt, relations deteriorated significantly after the failed coup attempt in July 1963, launched by Nasserist Jassem Alwan with support of Egyptian intelligence. However, the Ba'ath Party did not abandon the Five-Year Plan system - it continued the first and later launched subsequent ones. Each of the plans was considered an official document for the next five years: They outlined the desired goals for society and the state and outlined the necessary measures to achieve them. In most cases, the five-year plan was formulated by the government 2-3 years before its start.

The main essence and direction of the five-year plans are mainly discussed during a meetings of the Central Committee of the Ba'ath Party. In total, ten five-year plans were implemented and eleven were announced - although this system was not officially abolished, with the outbreak of the Syrian revolution in 2011, the Ba'athist government became much less concerned with implementing new plans and focused all its resources on suppressing the uprising, which later escalated into a civil war.

Other names The Five-Year Plan system, used in Ba'athist Syria, was also known as the Five-year Plans for Social and Economic Development () or just the National Development Plans ().

Five-year plans

First plan (1960–1965) In September 1958, the UAR government prepared a ten-year plan for Syria, but it was replaced by a more planned, so-called Five-Year Industrialization Plan.

As part of the plan, so-called Rural Development Centers (or RDC) were created. Their goal was to develop rural areas socially and economically. RDC's were created by the Egyptians based on their experience of interacting with similar organizations. However, Syria and Egypt had significant differences in such parameters as population density, standard of living, social structure, and so on - which meant that the approach had to be different.

The first five-year plan, announced in July 1960, set a number of goals and investment amounts for different sectors of the economy - the budget for the development of irrigation was to be around 780 million Syrian pounds, agriculture - 95 million, industrial and energy sector - 186 million, transport and communications - 387 million, education and health - 153 million, housing - 101 million, and 18 million for other sectors. The plan envisaged doubling the gross output of goods and services, i.e., an annual growth rate of 7.2 percent, by 1970 within the framework of a ten-year program consisting of two five-year plans, as well as doubling the national income. The costs to achieve this result were as follows (in the same order of sectors): 367 million Syrian pounds, 111 million, 408 million, 420 million, 157 million, 311 million and 102 million. Such volumes of funds from the plan spent on the development of irrigation were explained by the fact that at that time the Syrian economy consisted almost entirely of the agricultural sector, which requires a good climate - and irrigation would allow for an expansion of the volume of irrigated and arable land. But the United Arab Republic collapsed in 1961, after a coup d'etat by the Syrian army officers under the leadership of SARCAF.

In addition to economic development, the plan called for the development of education and increased coverage of the population. The goal was to expand primary schools (mostly, but not entirely, public) to ensure there were enough to cover all young children: in 1965, £125 million was allocated to education, second only to the military. The educational system was highly centralized and completely controlled by the Ministry of Education, which contributed to its militarization. The Ba'athists also began a campaign to strengthen state control over private schools.

When the Ba'ath Party came to power in 1963, it continued the projects laid out in the First Five-Year Plan. However, under Ba'athism, military spending skyrocketed—it is estimated that it accounted for 50-60 percent of the budget—but this money was not recycled back into the economy, as weapons were imported from abroad. At that time, agriculture and industry in the country were almost entirely in the hands of private individuals or companies. These private enterprises were very reluctant to invest their money in government development projects as outlined in the plan, leading to an aggressive nationalization campaign in 1965, started with signing of Ramadan Socialist Decrees. However, the entire plan was essentially based on the assumption by the UAR's authorities in Cairo that the Syrian economy would remain in the hands of private companies that would invest in it - assumption, that was broken by the Ba'athists. Initially, about half of all funds for the first five-year plan were obtained from external sponsors. However, all Syrian banks and branches of other Arab banks were already nationalized less than two months after the Ba'athists came to power, on May 2, 1963.

For this reason, among other reasons, the plan was only partially implemented - most of the expenses were never met due to the aggressive nationalization of private companies by the Ba'athist National Council for the Revolutionary Command, which was the main focus during the planning process.

Second plan (1965–1970)

In 1964, the government announced that the plan had been completed 6 months ahead of schedule. By mid-1965, however, the draft of the second five-year plan was still not ready, although the budget for that year had already been drawn up. It was already clear from them that, in essence, this was simply a continuation of the first five-year plan: the distribution of government expenditure was similar: as before, approximately 70 percent of the budget was planned to be allocated to the development of production projects, and the remaining 30 to social services. The second plan confirmed the continuation of the goal of doubling the national income, begun in 1960. The plan, however, significantly increased investment in the public sector - at the same time, the plan's dependence on external sponsorship increased (56 percent of investment in the public sector came from abroad). Also, within these divisions, changes in funding did occur - for example, if in the first five-year plan only 6 percent was allocated to utilities and housing, then in the second this number increased to 15 percent of the total plan budget. The amount of second-plan expenditure exceeded the first-plan expenditure by 10 percent. The Second Five-Year Plan also set the goal of creating a stable and continuous economic development program that would increase the country's national income by 42 percent. This Five-Year Plan also planned to allocate 21 percent of the total budget to transport, which amounted to £790 million, but by the midpoint of the plan, only £290 million had been spent. The plan also aimed at developing the petroleum industry.

The Second Five-Year Plan also placed a strong emphasis on irrigation: for example, it set the ambitious goal of land reclamation and irrigation of the Ghab Marsh and surrounding areas by the end of 1965, as well as the construction of a massive dam on the Euphrates River (which was completed only in third five-year plan and became known as the Tabqa Dam). During the second plan, the government invested about 136 million Syrian pounds in the agricultural sector, which was not enough. The Second Five-Year Plan also focused on expanding universities in Aleppo and Damascus.

In 1966, another military coup took place in Syria and the radical neo-Ba'athist general Salah Jadid came to power. Jadid's extreme pro-Marxist views radically changed the Ba'ath Party's approach, including to economic policy. Jadid became close to communist groups and adopted a Marxist program of economic development and political direction, as well as Marxist atheism - his regime carried out active propaganda attacks against religion. His aggressive policies alienated all sections of the country's population: it did not contribute to development, but only led to decline. Due to such a sharp change in policy towards a more radical direction, some documents indicate 1966 as the beginning of the second five-year plan.

Almost immediately after coming to power, the Jadid regime faced intense trade union pressure over low wages and poor working conditions, demanding improvements to both. In response, the profit-sharing scheme was changed to a more favorable one, and a program was implemented to establish a network of kindergartens for the children of working mothers.

In March 1966, the completion of the first stage of the land reform program, after which all large landowners had their surplus land confiscated, was announced, and the beginning of the second stage was announced: the redistribution of the confiscated land. By the end of 1966, local committees consisting of party representatives and the Farm Laborers' Union had united to oversee the redistribution of land: at the same time, government officials strengthened centralized control over Syria's agricultural cooperatives. With Jadid's rise to power, the amount of land redistribution by the state increased significantly, from 20,500 hectares in 1965 to 70,400 in 1966.