At a ceremony in Damascus on Monday, Syria’s interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa introduced the nation’s new banknotes, symbolically breaking with the past by eliminating pictures of the country’s deposed leader Bashar al-Assad and his father Hafez al-Assad. After two zeros were removed from the current notes, the new currency, which goes into circulation on January 1st, has values of 10, 25, 50, 100, 200, and 500 Syrian pounds.
In place of political images, the revised bills feature agricultural symbols that Syria is known for, such as roses, wheat, olives, oranges, and mulberries. Al-Sharaa stated that the new currency signifies “the end of a previous, unlamented phase and the beginning of a new phase that the Syrian people aspire to,” as reported by SANA, the country’s official news agency.
Abdul Qader Hosriya, the governor of the Central Bank, declared that the currency exchange procedure will be finished in ninety days, with a potential extension. The central bank is authorized by a 2025 presidential decree to establish dates and venues for the exchange of outdated banknotes. Al-Sharaa emphasized that while eliminating zeros from banknotes will make daily transactions easier, it does not automatically result in economic revival. “Changing the zeros and removing two zeros from the old currency to the new currency does not mean improving the economy, but rather it is easier to deal with the currency,” he stated.
Also Read:
King’s Christmas Message Calls for Harmony in a Divided Society
