Recently, Syrian president Bashar al-Assad issued a decree that bans all financial deals using any foreign currency. From now on, all payments, commercial transactions, and other financial deals are supposed to be made only in the local currency. The Syrian pound, the national monetary unit in Syria, has become the only authorized financial instrument. Apart from foreign money, gemstones, and precious metals are also forbidden to be used as payment instruments. Those who will break the new law risk jail sentences to maximum 10 years, and a huge fine twice exceeding an illegal transaction amount. The martial law in the country makes the economy be on alert to the current situation and switch the economy to war footing. The country’s authorities are planning to lessen the local market dependence on the U.S. dollar. However, economists are certain that such a move will hardly influence the banking sector environment. According to the words of a Syrian banker willing to keep incognito, “Banks will take no notice of the new ban. The country needs foreign currency. The point is that people estimate everything in greenbacks, if there is no reliable local currency. It is more like a psychological measure amid the declining local currency exchange rate.” Perhaps, such an action will be of some concern to local rebels who get financial support from abroad.
