The Syrian pound's black market exchange rate has hit a record low, plummeting to 1,000 against the US dollar, the pro-government Al-Watan newspaper reported on Monday
DAMASCUS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 13th January, 2020) The Syrian pound's black market exchange rate has hit a record low, plummeting to 1,000 against the US dollar, the pro-government Al-Watan newspaper reported on Monday.
Market sources told the newspaper that money exchange offices offer more than 1,000 Syrian pounds on the dollar. The official exchange rate remains 434 pounds on the dollar.
The currency's depreciation is believed to be directly linked to the events in Lebanon, which is suffering from a banking crisis and has introduced restrictions on cash withdrawals from US dollar accounts. Other factors impacting the Syrian currency are sanctions and economic destruction inflicted by a nine-year armed conflict.
A number of money exchange offices have reportedly stopped all operations due to the unclear situation in the market and lack of instructions from the Central Bank. Others only buy currency from the public and stopped selling dollars. A member of the Damascus commercial chamber told the newspaper that the demand for currency from the country's entrepreneurs had significantly fallen.
Before the start of the Syrian conflict in 2011, the dollar was traded at some 50 Syrian pounds. In early 2019, the exchange rate on the black market was 500 pounds per dollar. It rapidly dropped to 750 pounds in mid-November and to 900 in December.
Due to the historical fall of the Syrian pound, food prices have risen by 20 percent or more. The Central Bank has refuted rumors that it intends to set a new exchange rate.
