{"id":379231,"date":"2025-12-29T23:53:14","date_gmt":"2025-12-29T23:53:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/379231\/"},"modified":"2025-12-29T23:53:14","modified_gmt":"2025-12-29T23:53:14","slug":"no-faces-no-places-syria-unveils-banknotes-to-replace-assad-era-currency-and-boost-economic-recovery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/379231\/","title":{"rendered":"No faces, no places: Syria unveils banknotes to replace Assad-era currency and boost economic recovery"},"content":{"rendered":"

Syrian<\/a> President Ahmad Al Shara and central bank governor Abdulkader Husrieh on Monday unveiled the country\u2019s new currency, which will be introduced gradually from January 1.<\/p>\n

The move is intended to strengthen the Syrian pound after its purchasing power collapsed to record lows during the civil war that ended last December, when rebels toppled president \u2060Bashar Al Assad’s regime.<\/p>\n

Speaking at the unveiling in Damascus, Mr Al Shara said the design of the new banknotes, which feature images only of animals and plants, “is an expression of the new national identity and a move away from the veneration of individuals”.<\/p>\n

“The currency change event marks the end of a previous, unlamented phase, and the beginning of a new phase that the Syrian people and the peoples of the region who are hopeful about the modern Syrian reality aspire to,” he said, according to state news agency Sana.<\/p>\n

Images of the new notes projected on a screen showed a 25-pound note with mulberries, a 50-pound note with oranges, a 200-pound note with olives, and a 500-pound note with ears of wheat.<\/p>\n

Mr Al Shara said there were “many concepts that need to be clarified during the currency exchange phase”. <\/p>\n

“The first is that 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 said.<\/p>\n

“Improving the economy depends on increasing production rates and reducing unemployment rates in Syria, and one of the basics of achieving economic growth is improving the banking situation because banks are like arteries for the economy.”<\/p>\n

Mr Husrieh said last week that the new currency would be introduced gradually<\/a> from the start of the new year, and that the exchange of old notes for new ones would be “smooth and organised”, with guidelines to be announced later.<\/p>\n

Mr Al Shara described the changeover as “sensitive and delicate”, saying the most important consideration was “to avoid panic among the people and not to rush to throw away the old currency and replace it with the new one”. <\/p>\n

“Everyone who has old currency will have it replaced with the new one, so there is no need to insist on changing it because that may harm the exchange rate of the Syrian pound,” he said.<\/p>\n

“We need a calm approach to currency replacement, and the central bank has made it clear that this will be done according to a specific timetable.”<\/p>\n

Mr Husrieh said the currency change would not affect the exchange rate and was intended to encourage people to rely on the Syrian pound in daily transactions.<\/p>\n

He said the exchange should last 90 days, but might be extended if needed. “This will help stabilise prices, and we confirm that pricing during this phase will be in both the old and new currencies,” Sana quoted him as saying.<\/p>\n

“There will be a media campaign to accompany the currency change and explain the details in the coming days.”<\/p>\n

The Programme<\/p>\n

Saturday, October 26:\u00a0\u2018The Time That Remains\u2019 (2009) by Elia Suleiman
Saturday, November 2: \u2018Beginners\u2019 (2010) by Mike Mills
Saturday, November 16: \u2018Finding Vivian Maier\u2019 (2013) by John Maloof and Charlie Siskel
Tuesday, November 26: \u2018All the President\u2019s Men\u2019 (1976) by Alan J Pakula
Saturday, December 7: \u2018Timbuktu\u2019 (2014) by Abderrahmane Sissako
Saturday, December 21: \u2018Rams\u2019 (2015) by Grimur Hakonarson<\/p>\n

Lexus LX700h specs<\/p>\n

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Power: 464hp at 5,200rpm<\/p>\n

Torque: 790Nm from 2,000-3,600rpm<\/p>\n

Transmission: 10-speed auto<\/p>\n

Fuel consumption: 11.7L\/100km<\/p>\n

On sale: Now<\/p>\n

Price: From Dh590,000<\/p>\n

The specs<\/p>\n

Engine: 4.0-litre V8 twin-turbocharged and three electric motors<\/p>\n

Power: Combined output 920hp<\/p>\n

Torque: 730Nm at 4,000-7,000rpm<\/p>\n

Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch automatic<\/p>\n

Fuel consumption: 11.2L\/100km<\/p>\n

On sale: Now, deliveries expected later in 2025<\/p>\n

Price: expected to start at Dh1,432,000<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Syrian President Ahmad Al Shara and central bank governor Abdulkader Husrieh on Monday unveiled the country\u2019s new currency,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":379232,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[64,63,99,164,173982,156,155,66180],"class_list":{"0":"post-379231","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-business","11":"tag-economy","12":"tag-foreign-desk-team","13":"tag-standard","14":"tag-story","15":"tag-syria"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379231","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=379231"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379231\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/379232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=379231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=379231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=379231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}