Secretary of the Syrian National Coalition’s political committee, Riyad Al-Hassan, said that the decrees and laws being issued by the Assad regime have always been used as a tool to intimidate the Syrian people and silence any criticism of the ruling regime. He pointed out that the decrees Assad has issued lately to prevent further depreciation of the Syrian pound did not deviate from this framework.
Al-Hassan said: “Shoring up the Syrian pound cannot be achieved through presidential decrees, but by drawing up economic plans that serve the interests of the Syrian state and the Syrian people. Authoritarian regimes cannot implement financial policies that require transparency and proper management.”
“The Assad regime bears complete responsibility for the record decline in the value of the Syrian pound after it depleted the country’s resources to fund its military operations against the Syrian people who demand freedom, dignity, and a democratic state that is based on justice and equality.”
Al-Hassan went on to say that the consequences of the rampant financial corruption that swept the Syrian state led to the current economic collapse, especially after the mafia close to the Assad family looted the country’s wealth and smuggled it abroad.
The deep financial crisis that afflicts citizens is causing sadness and pain, Al-Hassan said. He stressed that the only way out of this crisis is the regime’s giving up of its pursuit of a military solution, a nationwide ceasefire, and revitalization of the political process to implement international resolutions on Syria, most importantly the Geneva Communique of 2012 and UN Security Council resolution 2254. (Source: Syrian National Coalition’s Media Department)
