Banking in Syria

[2] All these banks had a foreign strategic partner mainly from Lebanon, but also from Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain.

In 1947 Syria joined the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and pegged its currency to the U.S. dollar at LS 2.19148 = US$1, a rate that was maintained until 1961.

[4] Also in 1956, as a result of the Suez War, French and British banking interests in Syria were seized as enemy assets.

In 1958, and after the union with Egypt, the state began to Arabize the commercial banking system and in 1961 implemented a policy of limited nationalization.

[5] The old Money and Credit Council and the Central Bank of Syria were reactivated, restoring their role as monetary policymakers and regulators.

In practice, the decision allows local banks to open accounts of a maximum of US$10,000 that their clients can use for their international payment cards.

[5] To attract investment and to ease access to credit, the government allowed investors in 2007 to receive loans and other credit instruments from foreign banks, and to repay the loans and any accrued interest through local banks using project proceeds.

In February 2008, the government permitted investors to receive loans in foreign currencies from local private banks to finance capital investments.

The government maintains two official exchange rates for the Syria currency, the Syrian pound (LS) — one rate on which the budget and the value of imports, customs, and other official transactions are based, and a second set by the Central Bank of Syria on a daily basis that covers all other financial transactions.

The currency has been devaluing significantly, especially since the start of the Syrian Civil War, and continued to plunge further.

On 29 November 2019, following protests in Lebanese, the black market rate was LS 765 = US$1, a decrease of 30% since the turmoil started in Lebanon a month earlier, as the protests led Lebanese banks to impose tight controls on hard currency withdrawals and transfers abroad, making it hard for Syrians to access funds held by them in those banks.

[17] During the COVID-19 pandemic in Syria, the Syrian pound continued to fall against the U.S. dollar in the black market, where US$1 equaled more than LS 1,600 in May 2020.

[21] In June 2020, anti-government local authorities in Idlib Governorate adopted the Turkish lira in place of the plummeting Syrian pound.