DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Syria put a new currency into circulation on Saturday as the crisis-stricken country seeks to stabilize its economy as it recovers from the collapse of Bashar Assad’s government.
A decree issued by President Ahmed Sala earlier this week said “old Syrian currency” will be gradually withdrawn from circulation according to a schedule set by the central bank and through designated exchange centers.
After months of preparations, the exchange of old Syrian pounds for new banknotes officially began on Saturday morning, central bank governor Mokhles Nazer said in a post on X.
The presidential decree published by state news agency SANA stipulates that the “new Syrian currency” will be issued with two zeros removed from the face value of the old currency. This means that every 100 Syrian pounds in the old currency will now be equivalent to 1 Syrian pound.
The maximum denomination of the old currency is 5,000 Syrian pounds, and the maximum denomination of the new currency is 500 Syrian pounds.
Dollars were exchanged for 11,800 pounds at exchange shops in Damascus on Saturday for old banknotes, some bearing images of Assad and his late father and predecessor, Hafez al-Assad.
When the Syrian conflict broke out in mid-March 2011, the U.S. dollar was trading at 47 Syrian pounds.
Since a rebel group led by al-Sharaa’s Hayat Tahrir al-Sham advanced on Damascus in December 2024, ending 54 years of Assad family rule, the country’s new authorities have been trying to improve an economy battered by years of war and Western sanctions.
The United States and the European Union have lifted most of the sanctions imposed on Syria during Assad’s rule.
