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Syria Devalues Local Currency after Sacking Central Bank Governor
[ENGLISH.AAWSAT] Syria devalued the pound on Thursday, bringing the currency's official exchange rate closer to the black market rate, two days after the central bank governor was sacked.The pound was now officially valued at 2,512 to the US dollar from around 1,250 previously, central bank data showed. The black market rate is more than 3,000 to the greenback. The move means the Syrian currency has officially shed more than 98 percent of its value since the start of the country's civil war in 2011. It follows the government's decision to dismiss central bank governor Hazem Karfoul on Tuesday after a three-year tenure that coincided with a severe economic crisis. The pound stood at 47 pounds to the dollar before the conflict. Syria last devalued the pound in June 2020, giving in to weeks of depreciation on the black market as new US sanctions took effect. The country's war-battered economy is now reeling from the knock-on effects of a financial crisis in neighboring Leb  ...an Iranian colony situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozeen flavors of Christians. It is the home of Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers...that has stemmed the flow of dollars into regime-held areas. Syrians are believed to have billions of dollars blocked in Lebanese banks that have imposed harsh capital controls since late 2019. The regime of Bashir al-Assad also blames Western sanctions against Syria for the economic crisis. The average salary in Syria is about 90,000 pounds ($29) per month making it difficult for many Syrians to survive. The economic crunch has plunged millions into food insecurity nationwide, as food has over the years become 33 times more expensive than before the war, UN figures show. Posted by: Fred 2021-04-16 |
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