Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa rolled out the nation’s new foreign money at a ceremony in Damascus on Monday.
The redesigned banknotes have been redenominated, which implies they’ve fewer zeroes within the quantities, and so they not bear the visage of deposed dictator Bashar al-Assad, memorably condemned as a “gas-killing animal” by President Donald Trump in 2018.
Sharaa famous throughout the ceremony that altering the denominations on the Syrian pound was an accounting comfort and didn’t materially change their worth or reverse the excessive inflation suffered throughout the lengthy Syrian civil battle.
Syria’s President Ahmed al-Sharaa (L) and Syria’s Central financial institution chief Abdulkader Husrieh (R) stand between the nation’s new revamped foreign money notes on the Convention Palace within the Syrian capital Damascus on December 29, 2025. (Bakr ALkasem / AFP by way of Getty Photographs)
“Altering the zeros and eradicating two zeros from the outdated foreign money to the brand new foreign money doesn’t imply enhancing the financial system, however moderately it’s simpler to cope with the foreign money,” he stated.
“Bettering the financial system is dependent upon rising manufacturing charges and lowering unemployment charges in Syria, and one of many fundamentals of attaining financial development is enhancing the banking scenario as a result of banks are like arteries for the financial system,” he added.
The brand new notes can be found in denominations starting from 10 to 500 kilos, whereas the outdated payments ran from 1,000 to 50,000 kilos. The brand new ten-pound observe buys roughly the identical quantity of products because the outdated 1000-pound observe.
The brand new payments are fairly colourful in comparison with the drab outdated payments, and so they exchange pictures of the brutal Assad dynasty with some vegetation native to Syria, together with roses, wheat, olives, oranges, and mulberries – a fruit prized in Center Jap delicacies.
Sharaa stated the brand new designs symbolize “the tip of a earlier, unlamented part and the start of a brand new part that the Syrian individuals, and the peoples of the area who’re hopeful concerning the trendy Syrian actuality, aspire to.”
“The brand new foreign money design is an expression of the brand new nationwide identification and a transfer away from the veneration of people,” he stated.
Some Syrian on-line commentators weren’t thrilled with the brand new design, feeling that the cheerful brilliant colours and crop shows didn’t precisely replicate Syria’s lengthy historical past, or the grim realities of the civil battle.
“Syria shouldn’t be only a few timber and crops. It’s about civilizations and historical past and cultures,” one critic wrote on Instagram.
“Actually, whoever designed the brand new Syrian foreign money ought to have their palms damaged. It’s like they went to a vegetable market and stated: this one’s for the 5, this one’s for the ten and this one’s for the 100,” stated an much more trenchant critic of the brand new payments.
“Not a fan of the brand new Syria banknotes. Even Assad put the Umayyad Mosque on his foreign money. Come on, guys,” grumbled a 3rd.
The Umayyad Mosque is a historic construction in Damascus. It was a Christian basilica earlier than it was transformed right into a mosque centuries in the past, and a few consider that John the Baptist (or not less than a part of him) is interred there.
Sharaa stated one goal of the foreign money relaunch is to make Syria much less depending on overseas foreign money and restore their belief within the pound. The Syrian pound was buying and selling at about 50 to the U.S. greenback when the civil battle started in 2011 – and about 11,000 to the greenback when it ended with Assad’s ouster in December 2024. Syria’s foreign money misplaced a lot of its worth that residents grew accustomed to lugging heavy baggage of money round to make even the smallest market purchases.
Sharaa and Syrian central financial institution governor Abdulkader Husrieh requested the general public to be affected person throughout the foreign money transition.
“Everybody who has outdated foreign money may have it changed with the brand new one, so there isn’t any have to insist on altering it as a result of that will hurt the trade charge of the Syrian pound. We want a relaxed method to foreign money substitute, and the central financial institution has made it clear that this will probably be carried out based on a selected timetable,” Sharaa stated.
Husriyeh stated the trade was anticipated to take about 90 days, with extensions doable if wanted.
“It will assist stabilize costs, and we verify that pricing throughout this part will probably be in each the outdated and new currencies. There will probably be a media marketing campaign to accompany the foreign money change and clarify the small print within the coming days,” he stated.
Presumably for safety causes, Husriyeh declined to reply questions from reporters about the place the brand new payments can be printed. Earlier than the autumn of the Assad regime, Syria’s foreign money was printed in Russia.
