Reports | 30 04 2026
Habib Shhada
After days of conflicting reports over whether incoming remittances would be delivered in Syrian pounds or U.S. dollars, the Central Bank of Syria has settled the matter. It announced that all foreign transfers sent through international money transfer companies such as Western Union and similar services will be paid out exclusively in Syrian pounds, based on the bank’s official exchange rate bulletin, with a pricing margin intended to reflect market rates.
While the central bank says the decision aims to regulate the foreign exchange market, control cash flows, and strengthen formal banking channels, residents in the capital, Damascus, fear the policy will negatively affect the value of remittances and reduce their purchasing power.
The decision, which will take effect at the beginning of May, comes after the dollar exchange rate exceeded 13,000 Syrian pounds on the parallel market — about 2,000 pounds higher than the official rate set at 11,300 pounds per dollar.
Devaluation of the Syrian pound
In its official bulletin issued on Sunday, April 26, the central bank reduced the value of the Syrian pound against the U.S. dollar to 11,300 pounds per dollar, following a period of relative stability that lasted nearly a year. Meanwhile, the exchange rate on the parallel market reached 13,230 pounds per dollar, according to the website “Lira Today.”
On April 23, the Central Bank of Syria confirmed in a statement, reported by the state news agency SANA, the validity of Decision No. 235 issued on April 21. The decision obliges all banks and exchange companies contracted with global transfer networks such as MoneyGram, Western Union, and SWIFT to deliver incoming remittances to beneficiaries in Syrian pounds only.
The governor of the Central Bank of Syria, Abdelkader al-Husriya, said that determining exchange rates should be based on fundamental factors, primarily supply and demand, as well as economic expectations and financial developments. He added that the official exchange rate reflects a disciplined monetary policy, and that efforts are ongoing to align it more closely and transparently with market realities.
“A failed policy,” economist says
Economist Ammar Youssef told Rozana that the central bank’s decision would deprive the state treasury of foreign currency revenues, pushing those funds toward currency smugglers and the black market instead. He predicted that the central bank would fail to achieve its objective of controlling the foreign exchange market through this measure.
He added that the policy of delivering remittances in Syrian pounds is “a failed one” that had already been implemented during the rule of the previous regime, describing the move as “a return to managing the economy and monetary policy with the same mindset as the former regime.”
Youssef also expected that the decision could lead to renewed criminalization of dealing in currencies other than the Syrian pound, along with crackdowns on foreign currency traders and those who transact in hard currencies.
What impact will the decision have?
Regarding the decision’s impact on the exchange rate of the Syrian pound against the U.S. dollar, Youssef predicted that the rate would rise further in the coming days after the policy is implemented, as remittances shift from official channels to what he described as “under-the-table transfers,” amid ongoing instability of the pound.
The decision places the Central Bank of Syria in direct confrontation with market mechanisms and could push remittances toward informal channels, undermining financial transparency and limiting the state’s ability to control foreign currency flows. Economists, including Youssef, expect the black market to revive, widening the gap between official and parallel exchange rates and intensifying inflationary pressures — particularly following a period of increased “dollarization” of the economy.
Return to the black market
Meanwhile, a number of Damascus residents expressed frustration over the renewed restriction requiring remittances to be received in Syrian pounds, exposing them to losses caused by the gap between official and parallel exchange rates — estimated at around 16 percent of the value of each transfer.
Issam, a resident of the Bab Srijeh neighborhood, said these losses can sometimes equal the monthly salary of a public-sector employee. “There is no choice but to return to black-market transfer methods to ensure receiving remittances in dollars or at the parallel market rate,” he told Rozana.
Issam, who regularly receives remittances from his sister living in Germany, added: “My children and I are more entitled to the difference between the official and black-market rates.”
Remittances from expatriates have reached about $4 billion since the collapse of the previous regime in late 2024, according to press statements by the governor of the Central Bank of Syria in December 2025.
Before the fall of the former regime, the remittance market had been restricted to specific companies, with transfers subject to strict security oversight that prevented payouts in U.S. dollars. After its collapse, Syria’s transitional government lifted restrictions that had limited financial transfers and criminalized dealings in foreign currencies.
However, economic experts — including Youssef — believe the central bank’s latest decision to restrict remittances to Syrian pounds reflects an attempt to reinstate the approach of the previous regime, which had failed to control the foreign exchange market.