Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa on Sunday appointed Omar al-Halabi as chairman of the country's sovereign wealth fund, created by the transitional authorities but criticised by experts as lacking transparency.
Syria's sovereign fund sits at the heart of the country's efforts to attract foreign capital after 13 years of war, and was created to oversee investment projects and manage state assets.
It also manages assets confiscated from businessmen close to the government of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad, whom the new authorities ousted in December 2024.
In a decree published by state media, Sharaa appointed Halabi "as adviser for economic affairs to the presidency of the republic" and as "chairman of the board of directors of the sovereign fund".
According to state news agency SANA, Halabi has "more than 20 years of professional experience working with governments, sovereign institutions and the private sector in the Middle East and international markets in the fields of economic policy and institution building and sovereign investment".
It said Halabi previously headed economics and public policy advisory for the Middle East at accounting firm KPMG and also worked with Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund.
After establishing Syria's sovereign fund in June 2025, authorities have not announced its director.
But several people who requested anonymity told AFP in July that they met the director and identified him as Abu Maryam al-Australi, a former jihadist whose surname means "the Australian".
Australi is sanctioned by Canberra and was close to Sharaa when the now-president led a rebel group in northwest Syria that went on to spearhead the offensive that toppled Assad.
Syria's authorities, who inherited an economy shattered by years of war and economic sanctions, have been intensifying efforts to speed up reconstruction, with the sovereign fund a key part of the process.
According to official estimates, the fund controls assets whose value exceeds Syria's GDP.
Experts, however, had previously criticised what they said was the fund's lack of transparency, with economist Karam Shaar calling it "a black box".
The fund also manages assets confiscated from businessmen close to the former authorities, including Mohammad Hamsho, who was sanctioned by the European Union and the United States and who has reached a settlement with the new authorities.
Most Syrians live in poverty, while the World Bank has estimated that rebuilding the country will cost more than $216 billion.