Syrian Pound Continues to Plummet Against the US Dollar

The exchange rate of the Syrian pound continues to plummet below the US dollar and other major currencies despite the continued pumping of US dollars by Syria’s Central Bank. The US dollar popped above 192 against the Syrian pound on Monday in the Marjah market in Damascus, with experts saying that the collapse of the Syrian pound is as a result of lack of confidence in the Syrian economy, the decline of reserves of foreign currency, the depletion of natural resources of the country, cessation of production, imports and exports, the Assad regime’s and its cronies’ manipulation of the country’s economy, and an inflation rate as high as 250%. The head of Syria’s Central Bank said they would continue “to positively intervene in the currency market through the financing of private sector imports during the holidays of Eid al-Adha.” However, the economic analyst Ali al-Shami told Al Arabi al-Jadid newspaper that “these analgesic interventions by Syria’s Central Bank to curb the nosedive of the Syrian pound will not succeed in pumping life in the Syrian pound as the it had lost all factors of confidence and stability. The Assad regime has depleted its reserves of hard currency, estimated at around 18 billion USD before the breakup of the revolution, and has also lost the revenues of the oil exports and foreign remittances, which means that all the interventions of Syria’s Central Bank are simply meant to prolong the life of the crumbling Syrian pound through the daily pumping of US dollars.” (Source: Syrian Coalition + Al Arabi al-Jadid)