Fears of breaking the 1000 lira barrier .. Syrian currency collapses against the dollar

Fears of breaking the 1000 lira barrier .. Syrian currency collapses against the dollar



10/09/2019 - 21:36

The exchange rate of the Syrian pound has fallen significantly against the US dollar this week, reaching its lowest level in history, sparking widespread popular discontent across the country.

The exchange rate of the Syrian pound was recorded against the dollar on the black market in Damascus yesterday morning (683 sales - 680 purchases), after it reached the first Sunday (691 sales - 690 purchases), while remained the same in the Central Bank of Syria (438 sales) - 435 purchases).

Local sources confirm that there is an unprecedented demand for the dollar in large quantities by traders as well as ordinary citizens seeking to transfer the remainder of their savings in the Syrian currency to the dollar for fear of further deterioration in the exchange rate to reach 1000 pounds.

Economists point out that the main reason for this deterioration in the value of the lira, which reached about a year and a half to about 45 per cent, is the sanctions imposed by Western countries, especially the United States of America on the Syrian government, and the government's inability and lack of means to maintain the exchange rate.

The unprecedented new lira exchange rate has been accompanied by news that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has ordered measures against his cousin companies, businessman Rami Makhlouf in Syria, including his stake in Syriatel, the country's largest mobile service provider, and the Free Market. »Working in the border gates of Syria.

Rami, son of Mohammed Makhlouf, the brother of President Bashar's mother, is one of Syria's most prominent businessmen. He founded many companies, including Cham Holding, which in mid-2011 announced that he would relinquish his property to “charitable acts” in the context of accommodating peaceful protests at the time, but later contributed to supporting government forces through, inter alia, the Al Bustan Society and militias that fought to Its side.

As usual since the beginning of the events in Syria, the new sharp deterioration in the exchange rate has been accompanied by a mad flight in the prices of food, vegetables, fruits and all household items, which has exacerbated the livelihoods of the vast majority of people.

Since protests erupted in the country in mid-March 2011 and then turned a few months later into a grinding war and the imposition of economic sanctions on Damascus by Arab and Western countries, the exchange rate of the Syrian pound has gradually declined against the dollar, reaching around 640 in 2016 when the former US president threatened Obama blessed by striking positions in Damascus, but the exchange rate returned and improved and maintained a level of about 440 pounds throughout 2017.

In conjunction with a crisis in the availability of energy materials that ravaged areas of Syrian government control, at the beginning of last winter the exchange rate of the lira deteriorated gradually against the US dollar, and reached about 550 in February, then to 580, down to about 615, and yesterday morning (683 Sellers - 680 purchase

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